Haunted Memories
by RagingDemon2011
Summary: Sequel to She Who Returned, paranormal activities are on the loose once again, but with the disappearance of F.E.A.R Point Man, things are about to get worse... FINISHED! Side story included. I shorted the side story up from 4 chapters til only 2.
1. The Horror

**_Hello again, this is my second F.E.A.R story. I haven't played Extraction Point yet so go easy on me as nearly none of that stuff won't appear. This is the sequel to She Who Reutrned but at a different perspective. I wrote this loooooooooong time ago but got too busy so I couldn't submit until now. Anyway, enjoy!_**

**Chapter 1: The horror**

Thing were really quiet lately. Ever since that incident about the Armacham Technology Corporation, not many things happened. The police checked the buildings very closely, and even the famous First Encounter Assault Recon team showed the evidence of what exactly happened. But other than that it's quiet, peaceful… I guess for now.

I was on my way home from college. I was hanging out with my buddies for pretty long. So much that it was getting dark outside. I checked my cell phone to see what time it was. 10:20 PM. Great, I'm in for serious amount of trouble now. I remember the last time I came here late, my parents threw a huge tantrum at me.

My house was across the park most younger kids play in. Sometimes I come here to forget about my troubles for a while. And man this park is always full of children, full of happy faces, their parents with them to watch them having fun... I used to play here too, but I'm too old now to play in this park.

While I was walking by, the fountain kept pouring water by itself. When I looked at it, it stopped. But few seconds later it started again, and stopped another seconds later. I looked closely at the fountain. Things were definitely getting bizarre. When I got really close though, the water turned into blood and it squirted at me. I backed away and wiped the blood that poured into my face and shirt. This really is gross.

_Get away from me…_

I heard a voice. It was really soft, yet I had no idea who it was that said it. I turned around. No one was there. Not a person. Even if there was they would most likely be adults or teenage punks at this time of night. But to me it clearly sounded like a child.

_Move out of my way… I'll show some mercy._

I looked everywhere around me. I even saw a tree branch fall by itself, which made me jump, as well as swings swinging really hard by themselves. It was either the wind or something horribly strange was going on. But whatever it was, it definitely didn't want me to stay here any longer. I tried running away, but another tree branch fell on my head. It really hurt, and I slipped away to the darkness.

* * *

Oh man, I didn't know how long it was but I've been sleeping for quite a long time for what I know. There was a woman with a green suit and gloves that almost looked like ones that a snipe would use. Also there were few members of the SFOD-D, which I can tell from there armors with American flag on them.

"What the…?" I muttered as I opened my eyes slowly.

"I see you're awake. Tell me exactly what happened here." The woman replied as I slowly sat back up.

"I remember… a fountain with blood pouring out and swings swinging really hard along with tree branches falling." I told her almost everything I remember, but I remembered another thing, "oh, and a childish voice… it was a girl."

The woman looked surprise. She then opened up what was like a com link and said, "She's back." And after a pause, she finished, "it's Alma."

I looked everywhere around me. Everything was back to normal. The fountain was not pouring water all by itself anymore, the swings were staying still while some were just moving very slightly, but the trees were missing some branches of course.

The woman turned back to me, "Listen, we don't want you to tell ANYONE about what happened here. Otherwise, the entire city will be in panic."

"Um… but I'm wondering who this Alma is… would she be the childish voice I heard?" I wondered.

"It should be… According to our point man, Alma is a girl dangerous enough to kill anyone in a flash. She speaks to people's voices too, and messes with their minds."

Okay, now I'm freaked out. This Alma girl can kill anyone in a blink of an eye, and mess with my head too. If this ever happens to me, I'm good as saying goodbye to everyone. Well I don't want that until I graduate. But if she saw me today, I have a higher chance of her killing me.

And then there were the newspapers, some talked about Alma. The F.E.A.R Point Man told the entire team about her probably. I read that article what like months ago and I completely forgot about it until now.

"I understand…" I replied to her insist of not telling anyone.

The woman nodded and turned to the SFOD-D team, telling them to go back to their HQ while some should stay in case anything like this happens again.

I was getting really tired. I've been studying for my test in the library all day as well as hanging out with my friends to the mall and buying all kinds of cool stuff such as boozes, guitar magazines… the typical stuff we like. And this whole thing that happened made me frustrated. Maybe things would get better after I go to sleep.

I went back home. My dad was there, reading a newspaper, and my mom was reading a book, while one of my older sister was in the living room reading a magazine. But as I opened the door with my key, my dad got up, really angry.

"Where on Earth have you been all this hour??" He roared.

"Sorry dad, lots of things happened." I replied yawning.

"I called the police already and you still haven't shown until NOW. Where have you been, with your friends again?"

"No, today's different."

My other older sister came out of her room. She looked really tired, wondering what the hell was going on.

"Dad… it's one in the morning…"

One in the morning? Holy crap, I was unconscious for that long?

"Well your brother came in just now." My dad replied, again really angry.

"Look, I'll explain later… I have an exam coming up and something completely twisted happened." I replied, and I was about to collapse.

"Oh no mister, you're giving me a perfect explanation NOW." My dad demanded.

"Dear, please, calm down. He's really tired. Let him tell you what happened tomorrow morning." My mom defended me. My dad seemed to calm down a bit.

"Alright, but I'm waiting for an explanation tomorrow. Off you go to bed now."

Man it's been a tough day. But just as I opened my room door, I took of my shirt and went to bed. But just as I put my leg on the bed, I heard the closet door open. I looked a little bit. There wasn't really anything that I saw. Just my clothes. But I didn't want to keep looking there either all night, so I decided to forget about what's happening in my room and just go to sleep.

* * *

_I want them dead…_

_I want them all dead…_

_I'll make them pay…_

I saw a little girl with a red dress. She walked towards me. I wondered what in the world was going on. But this place I was in was black all over as well as fire engulfing in some places. I looked around me. I saw a dead man there. I looked closely. It looked like he died not so long ago but he did have blood all over his mouth. But then the girl walked towards the body instead of me this time. She put a hand on him and the man opened his eyes.

_Kill him._

The girl pointed at me, and the man just stared at me first but moved towards me. I tried running away, but behind me were three things I never saw before. They stood up really tall, they had helmets on, and they held rifles. I crouched and braced myself. The trigger on one of the soldiers' hand was close to getting pulled…

* * *

I woke up. It was just a nightmare.

But I looked at my room. On my desk I saw my notebook opened. When I was about to close it, the pages just flipped by themselves. It turned to an empty page, and there some blood printing began to write on the paper. I looked at the blood printing as it finished. It said "Seven Days."

**To be continued…**

**_Whew! Finally, I'm submitting my second F.E.A.R story. I was planning to do this sometime, but I got really busy but I had a flash of images in my head and decided to write this story. Anyways, R&R!!_**


	2. Seven Days mystery

**_I watched a few Extraction Point videos lately, and I'll be using an idea here. Also, I have a leg injury and school stuff to take care of, and while my leg isn't doing so well, I can still use my laptop and thankfully I put my chapters in my flashdrive. Enjoy!!_**

**Chapter 2: Seven Days mystery**

Seven days? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Will I be under a curse in seven days? Will I die in seven days? Or is this just a prank? This all so confusing!! What the hell am I supposed to do now?

Suddenly, I heard my dad calling me. Great, first my dad calling me angry, next a stupid message on my notebook saying something will happen in seven days. Whatever's going to happen it's not going to be pretty; anything written in blood can't be a good thing.

I headed downstairs and saw my dad reading the newspaper while drinking coffee, ready to go to work. But before that of course he wanted me to tell him exactly what happened.

I told him everything; from what happened with my friends to what happened at the park. He never believed any of that. He thought someone played a prank and did something to the fountain, thought I just made up the wind part, and the tree branch falling was perfectly ordinary. Man I wish someone would believe me. Even my sisters heard it and they thought I was joking.

* * *

But my dad left for work and took the car. That obviously meant I had to take a bus or the taxi instead. I don't really like bus stops because you have to WAIT for the bus to come.

But at least today was different. It came right at the dot when I arrived at the bus stop just when the bus came.

I arrived at the campus. All seemed to be normal; people chatting with each other, some even studying outside, enjoying the sun...

Suddenly I had to go to the washroom. I quickly found the closest one. Strangely not a single person was there. But it was awfully cold for some reason, but not so much that would make me sick.

After I finished my washroom business I went to the sink to wash my hands. I clearly turned the hot water but it was cold instead. I had no other choice so I used cold water to wash my hands. When I reached for the paper towel, I noticed something quite strange.

There was a shadow. It looked like a person to me. I got closer to examine the shadow. But I felt a sharp pain in my face. I looked at the floor. The shadow was grabbing my shadow's face. But where was this mysterious entity…?

As soon as the shadow disappeared, the pain was no longer there. But I heard footsteps. They were coming closer to my ear.

* * *

Suddenly everything went blurry. I saw a girl walking towards me. She wore a red dress and every step she made it left bloody footprints.

* * *

My eyes were no longer blurry. They turned out to be street punks who sneaked into the campus when the professors never suspected it. I hate these guys.

"Who the hell is this chump?" One of them laughed.

"Well he's not staying in our hideout from cops for a long time!" Another one of them shouted as he punched his palm.

I was ready to get beaten up, or at least tried to dodge them if I could. But before I could do any of them, one of them started screaming.

"What the hell is going on??" He panicked.

He was levitating on the air. Later he was mysteriously thrown at the ceiling, and after that he was slid into a toilet door. We heard some crunching noises from there, and he was screaming in pain pretty loudly. Few minutes later he came out of the toilet and his flesh started to pop as he was still levitating. His remains were dropped to the floor, but soon his body exploded blood all over the washroom.

The gangsters were horrified and stared at me. They thought I did something, so they ran away. I looked at the remains of the punk. His dead body was still sort of moving and blood was coming out of his corpse (obviously). I considered walking out of the washroom but some of the blood was squirted on my shirt. I guess I should be ready for an explanation now.

Maybe I spilled tomato juice… nah, no one would believe that. Who in the world would drink tomato juice outside of home?

As I kept thinking of various ways to get try and get a logical explanation for what happened in the washroom instead of making everyone thinking I'm psycho, I accidentally ran into a professor.

"Sorry." I apologized and walked away, but he already noticed the blood on my shirt.

"Hold on… What in the world happened to your shirt??" He questioned, extremely curious yet concerned.

"Um… I… uh…"

He suddenly turned to see the washroom. The whole washroom was smudged in blood.

"What in the world??" He gasped, horrified as he saw the blood filled washroom.

Oh boy, I guess I'm for some trouble now.

* * *

Soon the police department came. Even the ambulance came to examine the body. People asked me many questions, but the one obvious difficult to question was what happened, but by then suddenly an idea came in mind and I just said, "it was like this when I got here… but I accidentally tripped and the blood came on my shirt."

Everyone seemed to believe me fortunately, but still wanted to ask questions but I said I knew nothing about this whole thing that happened. I turned to go back home because classes were dismissed. But while I was going, I saw a little girl with a red dress walking by. Normally children aren't allowed so I had to get her out.

But then again I was somehow having a vision of a girl wearing red dress.

I followed wherever she was going only to realize she disappeared.

_I hate all… I hate them all…_

I turned to see if someone was whispering at me. Strange, no one was there, but what's true is the walls seemed to have little bit of blood on there for some reason. They had BLOODY handprints, if you want to go deeper.

All of a sudden lights went off. I tried to find the switches but it was nearly pitch dark I couldn't see a thing. Lights going off when I least suspect it is just something I hate. Either the light bulbs just went off because it was used for too long or something quite strange was going on. Something I can't explain for sure.

I tried to be calm. Things like this can't happen all of a sudden. There has to be a logical explanation…

Just then I heard a scream. A girlish scream being honest. I turned to see where it came from. To my surprise I saw a woman extremely close to me, about to reach out to get me. She was so fast I couldn't keep up what she was doing and when she pushed me with a finger everything began to feel dizzy…

Everything started becoming darker and darker…

**To be continued…**

**_I was planning to make the chapter longer, but to keep readers hanging what's going to happen next I decided to just end the chapter like this. Forgive me Jordan R. Was Here but this is just for the sake of the storyline and the atmosphere. R&R!_**


	3. FEAR Team

_**BOO YAH! Next chapter!! Ready to have fun?**_

**Chapter 3: FEAR team**

There was a man… he seemed to be drowning in the water. I tried to reach for his hand but I couldn't… I wondered who he was.

Could he be the one who… will help me?

My eyes began to open slowly. Now not only were there police officers and paramedics, but also the SFOD-D team, and even the F.E.A.R team from what I know on their uniforms with the mark "F.E.A.R." on them.

"He's coming too." A man said to a woman next to him, "you alright?"

I sat back up, shaking my head. They sort of started to hurt but they would be fine later.

"What happened…?" I wondered.

"You… You're the same kid I saw the other day." The woman replied.

I noticed her. Hey, it IS her!

"Coincidence, I guess…" I said with signs of me being a little tired yet injured on the head. I then saw pieces of wood next to me.

"Kid, tell us exactly what you saw here." The SFOD-D member without a helmet said.

I told them everything, but whispering to them. The girl with a red dress, and then a woman coming out of nowhere and reaching out to kill me. They looked rather concerned instead of suspicious, nor did they puzzle.

"We have more to talk about… first come with us to our HQ."

* * *

I guess there wasn't much I could do. Here I am, with a bunch of people with rifles and army trained. I didn't have much choice but to follow them. They lead me to the car… it was a pretty long drive. But of course, being an HQ full of dangerous weapons and crap, hell, there's a fat chance this kind of place would be near a city. Otherwise we'd have a problem with weapons and possible threat to the entire city.

When I arrived I saw and was puzzled when I saw the F.E.A.R HQ. The F.E.A.R HQ wasn't the biggest kind of HQ you would expect. Most of the time headquarters full of weapons, soldiers, and other stuff to do with a squad of people with guns would be humongous, but compared to what I thought this is small.

I got out of the car and the others did too. Actually, they did before me.

We walked towards the headquarters but while I was I thought I saw a little girl with a red dress walking to the other end of the building. Maybe I just imagined it, or that she was actually there but I just saw her and when she passed by.

"Hey, kid…"

Douglas Holiday (I found out his name from his license in the car) called me, and I turned to him, and he questioned, "Whatcha looking at?"

"Huh? Oh… uh… I just… remembered something…" I invented.

"Remembered about a secret crush?" He teased, and I blushed. I'll be honest, I do, but I definitely won't say it here.

_What's true about that girl… red dress… I thought I even saw her back at campus, AND in that nightmare I had… would she be related to this "Seven days" thing I read earlier today?_

These thoughts just made my head hurt, so I decided to shake them off for now.

Mr. Holiday and the Asian medic walked towards an elevator. A small HQ and an elevator, this really was new. But I can't complain, so I tried to walk in as well, only to realize the elevator already closed when I got near.

_What the f…_

I banged the elevator door, but then that wouldn't do any good. I started cursing, which wouldn't do any good either. I clutched my head in frustration and wondered what the hell I should do.

"_I'm waiting for you…_"

That whisper really sounded familiar. But it came from behind me. I turned around and saw bloody footprints leading me out to the door. I decided not to follow it, seeing as nothing good will probably happen if I do.

"_Come… I'm waiting…_"

I finally decided maybe I should take a second peak of what or who called me. I walked towards the exit and took a short peak. There was only a car as far as I can tell.

This is getting strange. There's always a girlish voice calling me but when I turn around there's nothing there.

I turned back to the elevator but when I did there really was a little girl with a red dress.

Her hair covered some of her face, and her skin was a little pale.

"Um… can I… help you?" I asked.

She said nothing.

I didn't know what to do. Maybe I should just pass by her and act as if nothing happened, or nothing was there.

But when I did take a few steps, she suddenly walked towards me, but this time turned into a woman instead. I puzzled, wondering what in the world was going on…

And that was when she dashed to me at lightening speed and I to the ground. But for sure I wasn't unconscious, but that did hurt a little bit.

* * *

The elevator reopened, and Mr. Holiday was there.

"No wonder we couldn't found you upstairs, where the hell were ya?" He questioned, quite serious.

"That's my line… why did you close before I even entered?" I asked, a little angry.

Douglas Holiday looked at me suspicious, but to not argue he just simply said, "Whatever. Just get in here."

I shrugged, and entered the elevator. No use in arguing about one little thing that happened. As the doors closed, I thought I saw a person, this time a man. I couldn't see because it just showed just as the elevator closed. Maybe I was just imagining something.

Douglas Holiday was led me to the conference room, where an elderly man, a few SFOD-D team members, and the medic were standing. There was a huge monitor there too.

"Here's your man." Douglas Holiday introduced as he walked me into the room.

"I noticed." The elderly man replied, and walked towards to me to shake hands, "I'm Rowdy Betters. You?"

I accepted the handshake and answered, "Dash Parker."

"Cool name… but we have more to discuss."

He must have been the commander, because his license on his shirt showed his rank.

"So Jin told me… you saw a little girl… with a red dress?"

I nodded.

"So that explains how Fettel was revived and more ATC employees died a few days ago… and most of them fleeing to the Island not so far from here." Commissioner Betters sighed as he turned to the other members.

That's when I also noticed a newspaper headline saying, "ATC in danger again!"

"Not to mention our last Point Man gone MIA." The medic added with a sigh as well.

The F.E.A.R Point Man… disappeared? I heard he was an ultra strong man, capable of killing almost anyone. But now that he's disappeared, would that mean we're all dead?

"Sir? I have a question…" I started another conversation.

"What?" Betters asked as he drank his coffee.

I took a deep breath and let it out, "C…can I join the F.E.A.R team?"

Commissioner Betters spat out the coffee as if he was shocked.

"WHAT?? You CAN'T be serious!!" He scolded, though I expected a laughter to insult me for joining a team like this as if I was joking.

But I wanted to. All I do everyday is going to college and going back home enjoying family time. Nothing new really happens, plus I'm thirst for a little adventure…

But then chances of me surviving this would be quite slim.

"Well, then we need you to be in your training session…"

I nodded. It's either sink or swim now…

* * *

I looked at the training room. There was a huge machine, about to throw baseballs or tennis balls at me, and even things I'll least suspect. But at least there were variety of weapons scattered around the room.

"Be ready for anything… now… readyyyy… go!"

I got my pistol aimed directly at the machine. The first thing it threw at me was a tennis ball. I shot it but it missed.

"Damn it!!" I grunted.

Next was a baseball. It flew at me at a lightening speed that I couldn't shoot it and quickly ducked, breaking a window nearby.

"…Shi…"

I couldn't finish what I said as another baseball was thrown at me. I shot it, but this time it missed by inches. I knew that because the there was a little scratch on the ball, but I don't think it's big enough to count it as a score.

Commissioner Betters warned, "One more time and you fail."

I turned and nodded.

* * *

All of a sudden, I was somewhere else. I was in a room nearly filled with water. I tried swimming down to see what I could find.

I saw a man drowning.

I reached my hand out to save him, but instead of trying to take my hand, he seemed to get something out of his eyes. I didn't know what it was, but it was a little glowing green thing and he passed it to me. I was curious on what it was, but since he put it in his eyes before, I decided to try it on.

It fit for my eyes, and it didn't actually hurt. I expected some extreme pain but I didn't feel anything like that luckily. Then everything went white…

* * *

I was back in the training room…

_What the hell was that?_

Suddenly the machine threw a knife. I was shocked and lowered my eyes to brace myself.

Suddenly, the knife that was thrown at me was flying at me at such a slow speed. It was so slow I had time to get out my gun and shoot it. The knife was shot as it dropped to the ground…

Commissioner Betters seemed surprised.

"Wha…Wha? But how...?"

He seemed to be confused, but the machine was ready to throw something at me again.

It was a mouse that was alive. I lowered my eyes again and everything slowed down so I can take improve my aim. I shot it and blood squirted from it's belly.

"S-Such reflexes…" Betters stuttered, "I only saw the last Point Man do that…"

The machine threw a razor blade at me and I lowered my eyes to slow it down and shoot it. By the time I shot it, everything went back to normal, but my eyes were still lowered.

The machine threw a tennis ball, but I tried lowering my eyes. Nothing happened, but I shot it anyway…

And… it… missed.

I swung my arm and rifle butted the ball, and it went dropping to the ground but it really did hurt my hands a lot.

Commissioner Betters stopped the machine, then walked towards me.

"Kid, welcome to F.E.A.R."

**To be continued…**

**_Maybe the chapter wasn't good as the previous two, but then I'm getting short on ideas, so I'd be happy if anyone would give me ideas for next chapter._**


	4. Dash's Struggle

**_Let me get a few things straight; I'm a NOOB to scary stories, so I can't write horror that well. Simply put, I may have a scary atmosphere, but that does NOT necessarily mean the story's going to be scary._**

**_Another thing, I never knew that there was a DEMO for Extraction Point! I downloaded it, played it… I found it quite disappointing me because it was pretty easy (well except Extreme difficulty, which I haven't quite tried yet). _**

**_Anyways, enough jabbering. Next chapter is… where is it? Oh, in my POCKET!_**

**Chapter 4: Dash's struggle**

The F.E.A.R. team dismissed me yesterday because they had to think whether a college student should join an army full of dangerous stuff that deals with paranormal situations or not. But it's nothing I can do as this is beyond what I wish to do. But if I believe in god I'll say yes I will join.

* * *

**_Begin flashback…_**

Commissioner Betters studied my results very carefully and with full detail. He couldn't believe it, my reflexes were the most exceptional, next to the Point Man according to him. But I'm still pretty young to have such powers…

"Kid, it maybe a tough decision… although you may be an excellent soldier in combat against these things, the rules say that people over 20 can enter." He explained with a sigh.

I gave a sigh too. If I couldn't join then my life would be boring, but what's worse is that going into this team will be my only clue to figuring out the seven days thing that was written on my notebook.

"Holiday, send him back home… Dash, I want to talk to you later." Betters yawned. He must've been really tired from worrying and working.

I shrugged, and Douglas Holiday walked outside of the conference room. I followed…

Along the way I saw a door that was slightly opened. It was an armory full of rifles and stuff.

But I also saw a pair of legs.

I got close to the door to close it but the door slammed by itself when I got near it. It made me jump a little and it caught Holiday's attention.

"Kid, what are you doing at the armory…?" He questioned, quite suspicious.

"Ah… I uh… was looking at the cool stuff you had!" I invented.

At least that made sense, so the SFOD-D leader was cool with it and took me to the elevator. I closed my eyes and rested…

By the time I was outside it was raining. I never noticed that until now. I wonder why the conference room never had a window to see how the weather is for the next mission.

I got inside the car with Holiday. He seemed to remember after that incident in the park…

**_End flashback

* * *

_**

It was weekend morning. The sun was shining brightly and I heard kids playing. I woke up and decided to do something while the F.E.A.R. team was still making decisions whether I should join the team or not. I should take things easy and forget about what happened last two days… it's more than troubling me already. Besides, I haven't gotten much fun lately.

Speaking of fun, it was my first test or homework free weekend ever since I was at college!

I dressed up to my normal day clothing and wore a hoody. I went outside and decided to take a walk around the park. It's my one way of getting relaxed…

I got out my cell phone while I was walking and decided to check the time and date…

Much to my horror, my library books were due!!

I had to quickly rush back home and took the library books from my desk, and rushed to the nearby bus stop. The library was a little far but enough that I have to take a bus…

* * *

_Minutes later…

* * *

_

I returned the books to the library, but I was tired after rushing too much. And that's when I got thirsty and remembered I didn't fill my water bottle I always carried with me yet…

I went to a nearby store to buy a small bottle of water, but while I was there I accidentally walked into someone…

"My bad," I apologized…

"Hey, aren't you…?"

It was the F.E.A.R. team medic.

"What the…? We seem to be meeting each other a lot more than I expected…" I muttered.

She managed to chuckle a little, but replied, "Yeah, quite a coincidence… we walk into each other at least once per day don't we?"

I said nothing about that, having no idea how to extend the topic.

The two of us went to the cash register and paid… and after that we got out…

"Aren't you supposed to be in the F.E.A.R. HQ right now or something…?" I wondered.

"Dash, I can't be working 24/7. Today's my only day off this month." She answered.

Did she say ONLY day off this month? I wonder how F.E.A.R. employees stay up so well… I was quite impressed.

Suddenly, it started to rain… that's when I also remembered I accidentally lost my bus ticket at the store from what I know when I checked my pocket. I even didn't bring an umbrella, but on a sunny day before, why would I need one?

I wondered how I could get home now…

"You want a ride?"

I turned to her, and replied back, "Huh?"

"Do you want a ride back home?"

I got a ride from Douglas Holiday already… why can't I just get my own car by now?

"Thanks Ms… Ms… uh…" I stuttered.

"Ms. Kwon."

"Thanks Ms. Kwon."

* * *

She drove me back home. I looked at the rain, wondering how a sunny day just started pouring all of a sudden. This was pretty strange, but compared to what happened last few days ago, this is what like normal. 

She dropped me off at home and we waved our byes…

There was a note at the door, saying, "Dash, I'll be out to bring your sister to her piano concert. Love, mom."

And there was another, "Dash, I was called in for work, be back at 7. Your dad. P.S, the keys are in the place you always hide your test marks in."

And finally, "Dash, I have a doctor's appointment today. Sorry. Love, Kelly."

I must have been the only one in the house now. And that place my dad mentioned was the letterbox, which was a pretty stupid place to put all the bad test marks in, but then the past can't be changed either.

I got the keys and went inside my house. All the lights were off but I obviously turned them on. We don't have lights for nothing. I went upstairs but when I climbed all the way up the lights went off again.

_Calm down… the light bulbs probably just went out…_

I walked into my room, but along the way my sister's room door slammed shut when I got close.

_The windows are opened… it's nothing new…_

I checked in my room…

It was a mess. All my notebooks were on the floor and some of my posters were ripped off. And what's worse, the walls were a little bit red…

My skin felt a little scratch. It wasn't bleeding but it did hurt a tiny bit.

But I felt it again.

It was from my left arm, and I turned to where my left arm was facing. There wasn't anything there…

Suddenly, one of the notebooks flew straight at me. I lowered my eyes and it slowed down, and I quickly ducked, and it hit a wall instead.

I heard strange sounds from where that notebook was. It sounded like something was moving…

I turned around to see where I heard it only to find out the notebook was flying at me again, this time it hit me on the forehead. It knocked me down, but I quickly got back up and picked up my chair in case I saw something that would throw stuff at me.

There wasn't anything thrown at me for quite a long time.

But for a brief moment I saw a shadow moving. It was definitely not human as it wasn't standing by its' feet but by both arms and feet. The shadow seemed to go towards me. I lowered my eyes and I got to see that it was an invisible entity. I swung my chair and it disappeared…

I looked around each direction in case if it was still alive… but for a few minutes nothing attacked me.

I brought my chair back down and sighed. I was quite exhausted.

"She is a prisoner… floating in darkness." A male voice was speaking to me, "What you are is what is almost like a copy of him…"

The voice was a little raspy, but I thought I heard it somewhere. Not in directions… but it was just my ears… not sensing any sorts of directions.

_Who's making these things happen to me…?_

And even more strange, WHO's copy? There's only one and only Dash Parker in this city as far as I know… who else would have the same name, or even more unlikely same looks as I do?

I pretended I heard nothing, so I shook my head and closed my eyes…

"It's no use. There's no escape from reality… so just open your eyes and look to see what real life is… not the fantasy where she is in…" The voice kept speaking to me, either in my head or my ears.

I opened my eyes.

There was a man in front of me. His clothes were stenched with blood and so were his face, particularly from his mouth.

"I will free her… I will not make the same mistake again."

He then disappeared.

* * *

I heard several thumps at the front door. Instead of opening it, I decided to check from the window to see who it was… 

They were the same soldiers I saw in the nightmare.

One of them kicked the door open, and I heard it from downstairs…

"Check the upper floor." I heard one of them say, and the other said, "Yes sir."

They held rifles from what I saw from the window.

I tried to hide, but then my family would be in danger if they stayed here longer. I had to do something and kill them…

Suddenly, I found my pocket knife I had back at the camp a few years ago…

"Life signal getting closer." One of the soldiers said as I heard footsteps getting louder and louder.

The three soldiers entered my room, and said, "He should be here!"

When one of them had their back turned, I quickly rushed and stabbed their head with my pocket knife, and the soldier fell down, dead.

"TARGET SIGHTED!!"

They opened fire, but I lowered my eyes again and saw where exactly the bullets were going. They were pretty slow so I jumped up, avoiding all the gun fire and stabbed the other one in the leg.

The knife stayed there, and the soldier was still able to stand, but barely.

"He's going down!" The other soldier shouted and fired again.

I picked up the rifle the soldier I killed had and fired back at them. They soon went down…

_Why are these guys going after me? Not like I did something wrong…_

What was even stranger was that their heads were actually their helmets; I couldn't get them off. And another thing was that they looked so similar to one another…

I quickly picked up the bodies and buried them in the backyard so no one would see. At least I don't have a dog that would probably find them.

When I came back to my room, the notebook that was thrown around the room had written in bloody message, "Six days."

* * *

**To be continued…**

**_I know you guys maybe wondering why Alma and Fettel are after Dash, but I already know why as of me being the author… and you'll have to see soon… R&R for now._**


	5. First mission

**_Okay, here's the NEXT chappie:D:D:D Oh, and P.S: My friend posted a F.E.A.R. story here, called "No Way Back". It's a one shot story._**

**_Also, to those who are fans of the British rock band Queen, you're more than welcome to talk to me about them! I've been their fan for 6 years._**

**_Another thing to note, yes Darklight ZERO made a good point; true, F.E.A.R. IS a top secret organization, but after such a gigantic explosion obviously they'd be a lot more famous._**

**_Anyways, on with the story…_**

**Chapter 5: First mission**

I cleaned up my room after all that mess with those soldiers and those damn notebooks being thrown at me. These paranormal activities that's happening to me are getting worse.

But what's true anyway is that these things seem to be happening **particularly** me. Whenever anyone else are around strange things never happen, but when I'm alone by myself weird things pop out when I least suspect it. I even remembered what happened a few years ago…

* * *

**_Begin flashback…_**

I was drinking orange juice. It was a hot sunny day, and the orange juice just didn't help refreshing me one bit. It was so hot I think I'll melt in matter of minutes now…

Suddenly I had to go to the bathroom. I quickly rushed inside…

After I finished my bathroom business (hey, what I did is none of your business) and washed my hands, I went for the towel.

The bizarre thing was whenever I put my hand on the towel, it left some blood print of my hand on them.

**_End flashback…

* * *

_**

The phone rang all of a sudden, which made me jump. This is another thing I just HATE; phone calls when you least suspect it or when you're thinking/reading/watching something scary.

I picked up the receiver, "Hello?"

"Dash!! It's me, Commander Betters. Come to the HQ, we have something to discuss."

I wondered if he was going to say if I can join the team or not, but I'd rather hear what he wanted to say than asking from the phone and making a really long conversation.

"Okay… I'm on my way- WAIT! But I don't remember where-"

He hung up. Oh great, this is nuts.

Maybe I should just go there by myself now; I'm getting so many rides. I got my jacket and was ready get out, only to have another phone call. I picked it up…

"Hello?" I answered.

But no one replied.

"H-hello?"

Still no answer.

"Look, I'm busy, so whoever called me, call me back later-"

"_I'm waiting for you…_"

The phone hung up.

* * *

I got out of my house and locked the door. It was still raining and I didn't have an umbrella. Even worse I had to hurry or I'd be in big trouble from my dad again for coming back late. It's better to go there early and come back home early as well.

I headed outside and just wondered how the hell I could get there. Sure, now F.E.A.R. team became famous, but even then no one could really give me directions to such a place.

* * *

Suddenly, everything went blurry… all went black but I saw some flames around me. I was wondering what the hell was going on.

"_You'll die if you go…_" I heard the same whisper I heard from the phone.

I looked at where I heard it and there was the same little girl wearing a red dress again. When I saw her, a flash of light blinded me for a second. This time I was in a corridor. It looked like a hospital because of the doors and the walls, which were usually white. Even equipments on the floor hinted that, though I wondered why they were lying there. What's even weirder was that not a single person was in a hospital… when most of the time doctors and nurses should be taking care of patients.

There was a door pretty far ahead. Although I tried to walk towards it by myself, when I walked a few steps I was just in front of it…

From there I saw a doctor… and a little girl. I also saw a little baby.

And that baby… I remembered from my photo album… that… looked like me.

* * *

Suddenly, the vision was over, and I somehow came to. I was… at the F.E.A.R. HQ?

These things were just getting stranger. First the park incident, next I see a journal, then a little girl with a red dress numerous times, a man out of nowhere, soldiers and some mysterious entities coming to kill me and now a VISION that takes me here?? I'm having all kinds of weird things, won't someone let this all go?

Commissioner Betters was waiting outside with an umbrella. He seemed to have been waiting for me for quite a long time.

"Well buddy… you finally came…" He welcomed as I nodded.

We both went in and went into the conference room… there were about fifteen SFOD-D members in there, along with Douglas Holiday but Ms. Kwon wasn't there. Well, she did take the day off.

"Gentlemen, I'd like you to welcome the newcomer, Dash Parker." Betters introduced me.

I expected everyone to say "Hi" but instead they were whispering, "He's sending a KID to this mission??" and "Oh come on, he's joking, right?"

"Listen up. His training results are nearly equal as the last Point Man's…" Betters stated, "He maybe young but as a test for his skills we're sending him in for combat."

He started to explain, "Armacham recently met contact with those soldiers again. Apparently they're on the loose again and are looking for something… or maybe someone." Betters explained, and added, "they're in the nearly crushed ATC HQ… still."

He displayed how the soldiers looked like from a huge monitor. They were the same soldiers that attacked me a few minutes ago…!!

I was going to say that I saw them but they might think it's silly that the soldiers would be looking for me so I put that aside.

"They aren't dumbass goons; they're highly trained, heavily armed. Keep your eyes peeled open." Commissioner Betters warned…

* * *

Two helicopters arrived at the roof of the building labeled Black Hawk, but before we went to the roof Holiday spoke to us…

"Listen up, we'll separate into two teams; Team 1 take the back entrance and team 2 start from the roof. Once our mission is finished we'll rendezvous and wait before F.E.A.R. commander's orders." Douglas Holiday made a strategy.

"Get your weapons and saddle up!" Holiday commanded as everyone armed themselves with weapons. I picked up an Assault Rifle and nine clips of ammo.

My team consisted of eight people, including me. I was in team 1, so that meant that my starting point would be the back entrance to wherever this place would be… But wherever it was all I had to do was to get on the chopper with team 1…

* * *

_A few minutes later…

* * *

_

The chopper arrived and dropped us off at the back entrance of the ATC HQ. The rope fell down to the ground and everyone slid down…

That was when suddenly those soldiers started firing at us while we were still climbing down. Two of the SFOD-D members got shot down, and fell down to the ground. The soldiers were on top of a balcony above us, perfect for anyone to snipe.

"Everyone get to cover!!" The leader of the team shouted and everyone did. However, more soldiers just kept coming from the balcony from where they shot the two of our teammates.

While everyone was taking cover, I took my chance and got sprinted out of the box I was hiding behind. Those soldiers had to go, as they didn't stop.

"KID, WHAT ARE YOU DOING??"

I ignored what the leader said, and concentrated on firing at them. I lowered my eyes and shot at least three down on the head one by one. They also shot back at me but that didn't matter, as they were too slow to hurt me.

Suddenly, everything went back to normal speed and that was my cue to quickly find cover. One shot nearly got me, but I hid back in time. But I reached out for a grenade and quickly threw as high as I could. The explosion killed all the Replica soldiers that were sniping at us.

"Great job, new guy… now everybody move!"

The rest of the team members followed the leader, so I followed them to the building too…

"Sir, this door is locked. What should we do?" One of the SFOD-D members questioned as he tried to push the door open…

"What are you, a sissy? Just KICK it open-"

Another member approached but only to be caught in an explosion that destroyed the door into pieces. The two members went flying and landed with a loud thud, and blood stained on their helmet and shirt.

The same soldiers came out and opened fire at us. One of the team members also got shot down because he didn't pull the trigger in time but the rest of us fired back at them. There were only two of them so killing them were at least a little easier than killing the snipers.

"We already lost five men… all of you watch your backs and keep your eyes open." The leader warned as me and the other surviving member nodded. I reloaded my assault rifle and we went inside.

The room was nearly empty. The only thing there was a chair, which was filled with blood, but not a body was in the room. In fact the blood was only on the chair… the wall and the floor were perfectly clean.

Up ahead was another door… it was another one that was locked. But the strange thing was, how did those soldiers get in here and blast the door if THAT door was locked and nobody else was here? I didn't even see a hole on the ceiling.

"Damn it… it's a dead end." The leader grunted in annoyance. He tried to kick the door open, but the door didn't even budge.

I watched the leader keep trying to open the thing, but all we were doing was wasting time…

"_I'll open it for you…_"

That whisper… it sounded so familiar. I looked around the room. It was just the three of us… no one else was there…

"What the hell…?" The surviving SFOD-D member muttered. I turned around and saw him getting off the ground. He certainly wasn't jumping because if he was, he would've come back to the ground already.

"OH MY GOD, WHAT'S GOING ON???"

He suddenly smashed the ceiling, and his body was dragged violently around it. He struggled to break free from whatever was pulling him, with no luck.

His body smashed back to the floor again, but this time his body flew towards the door. He hit it with such an amazing force that it broke the door. However, before we even entered the next room, we heard a screaming that sounded like someone was coughing out blood.

"Ralph, report your status now!!" The leader commanded through his comm. Link, but it seemed that he heard no answer as he quickly cut it off.

We rushed in. His arms, legs, tarso, and head were ripped to billions of pieces and squirted blood all over the place.

"This is a massacre…" He commented as he examined his remains.

I had to agree. All this paranormal things happening to me were just getting worse everyday. What was even worse was that the leader and I were the only survivors of team 1.

"Sir, maybe you should check in with team 2." I suggested, as he looked a little worried about what was going to happen next.

"Great idea." He replied, and got his comm. Link, "Bond, what's your team status?"

I opened up the comm. Link too and decided to hear what they had to say.

"We still have 5 men remaining… three of them died while investigating a hall way, but I didn't see a bullet hole in the corridor." The team 2 leader answered.

"We only have 2 of us remaining… jus me and the new kid…" Our, no, my leader said.

"Roger that. We'll get to you as soon as possible."

We cut off our comm. Links.

"Dash, was it?" The leader called.

I nodded.

"Since it's us two remaining, stay sharp. I remember how the last F.E.A.R. Point man we had was… he was always on his toes, being careful of everything… we have to be like him… and if possible find him one day."

This Point Man I kept hearing about was getting more and more interesting…

But I wondered… would he be the one that I saw that day during training… the one that gave me the ability to slow everything down?

I shook that off… the leader kicked the next door open. At least THAT one was opened.

But that didn't do much good as all that did was get unwanted enemy attention. Rain of bullets showered through him… he retreated and took cover… but he was barely able to move from what I saw when he crawled back.

"Damn… I don't know if I'll make it…" He moaned as he clutched his arm.

I looked back at the room he opened. There were those soldiers again. Actually there were more than I thought; some were on the same floor as I was while others were up a balcony.

I got out my assault rifle and began to fire back. One of them quickly knocked a nearby table down and ducked behind it. But that didn't really matter anyway as I had other of these soldiers to take care of. One of them got close and attempted to rifle butt me, but he barely missed. I took the chance to quickly kick him on the legs and have him fall down, which gave me a perfect chance for me to shoot him in the head.

However, the others didn't give up firing. I got to that soldier that took cover behind the table that he knocked over. I swiftly ran to it and lifted and knocked the table on his side. It fell on top of his chest and I continue to press it hard. It was unable to move and I quickly jumped and landed on his head. It crumpled the helmet and I jumped off. While I was on the air I turned and shot back at him, instantly killing him.

The ones at the higher level threw a grenade down. The explosion nearly caught me but it did make me jump a little. That was my chance to fire back at them only to remember I was running low on ammo. I got to cover and reloaded. But while I was they took their chance to throw another grenade. I jumped away but accidentally dropped my assault rifle.

I was safe from the explosion, but my assault rifle was blasted all the way to the opposite wall. Now I was at a disadvantage…

The soldiers from above kept sniping at me. I lowered my eyes again to avoid the bullets and get my rifle. I jumped to grab it and quickly got my eyes normal again. I shot back at them and I took out all but one out.

"He wiped out the entire squad!! Retreat!!" The soldier panicked and ran away…

I went back to the leader and checked into see if he was okay.

"Sir, are you okay??"

He was barely able to move, but replied, "I guess so…"

Just then the wall from the next room blew up. From there came another soldier, this time it had metal like plates around its shoulders.

I fired at it but my assault rifle didn't even leave a scratch on his armor. He fired back some sort of strange things, what looked like nails. They flew at me at a lightening speed that I had to lower my eyes to avoid them. However, it didn't really help much when it rushed at me and bashed me. It punched me with such a strong force that I was sent flying straight to a crate behind me. It was strong enough that when I hit it the crate smashed into bits and pieces.

I saw my assault rifle a foot ahead of me, but the huge soldier was getting closer.

But from the broken box there was actually a shotgun. I was fortunate enough that it was already loaded with ammo.

I cocked the shotgun and fired at him. This time I saw some scratches on the armor. Check that, a lot of them. I fired a few times more, but he didn't seem to go down that easily.

I backed away from it and quickly threw a grenade. The explosion got him and he staggered. While there were still clouds and dust still in front of him, I took the chance to sprint towards him and fired my shotgun one more time, and he was down for good. It made some static noises so I assumed it was a robot instead of those soldiers… unless if those soldiers are also druids.

I went back to my leader again…

"D-Dash… I won't make it…" He moaned in pain, sounding like he was about to die.

"Sir, but we're a team… I don't want to and I can't fight by myself!" I shouted.

"Dash… I see some potential in you already… maybe you can even be like the point man…"

And he stopped speaking and blood came out of his mouth.

I had to fight by myself now and there was no going back.

* * *

**To be continued…**

**_Yeah, the chapter sucked, sue me._**


	6. The Only One

**_Before I start the chapter, just want to tell you, PLEASE, PLEASE don't ask for what's going to happen next; I WILL answer most of the questions later in the story. Thank you._**

**Chapter 6: The Only One**

I picked up the assault rifle I dropped while I was battling the heavily armored soldier. But I also decided to take the weapon he was using. The weapon that seemed to shoot nails at a lightening speed. I was pretty sure this thing would come in handy… at least for now.

I went into the hole he blew as I picked up some of the clips he had and reloaded. There was a door, and I hoped it WASN'T locked… there's way too many of those here from what I saw so far.

When I pushed the door, surprisginly, it opened. Or maybe not so surprisingly… at least not all doors I've seen in my life were always locked.

The room had a little lightening but I could still see a lot thanks to my trusty flashlight. But the strange thing was, the light that was shone to the floor had an oval shape instead of a plain circle one.

Suddenly a bucket from a nearby shelf fell down, and it spilled either red paint or blood, I couldn't really tell. But why in the world would there be blood on a paint bucket?

"_Don't move any closer…_" A voice whispered to my ear.

I looked up and saw the same little girl with the red dress again.

"Wh-Who are you…?" I questioned, puzzled.

"_Don't move a step closer…_"

She wasn't answering my question, but I did step back anyway.

"_If you value your life, don't move any closer…_"

I gulped… now what was I supposed to do? If I moved a step she'll do something to me… for sure something horrible. From her looks and the encounters from campus and F.E.A.R. HQ, she wasn't someone or something ordinary…

"Look, I don't care who you are, just stop bothering me!" I blurted as I stopped backing away.

"_You're no fun…_"

She disappeared, but lights went off. I didn't know where the switch was… and my flashlight needed to recharge.

"I don't know where you are, but better try a new trick because this is getting old!!" I yelled as I looked around the room to see where she was. I turned on my flashlight as soon it was recharged, and I could see a little bit of the room. But I definitely couldn't see the girl anymore.

"_I know you like to play games… my son._" She whispered back… and that voice began to fade with an echo…

"Son?? What the hell do you mean I'm your son?" I snarled but no one was there to reply.

I shook off what just happened and the lights were on again all of a sudden. However, I heard a strange noise behind me.

I looked and saw weird things I never saw in my life. They were black and looked like mummies that were flying. But knowing that they weren't here for any good for sure, I shot them and they disappeared into thin air…

"_You're stronger… stronger than HIM._" The voice was heard, but she was nowhere to be seen… still.

I couldn't take this anymore, so before anything bad could happen, I ran as fast as I could to the nearby door and kicked it open. I didn't want anything else to happen here. I quickly closed the door as I entered in case more troubles were going to follow me. But the next room was full of shelves but I saw one of them falling down.

_What the hell is going on…?_ I thought.

I examined the shelf closely. As I did, below the shelf it started to bleed… but bookshelves didn't have blood. This was completely getting strange.

"_You can't escape…!_"

"**STOP THIS GAME!! NOW!!**" I screeched throughout the room but she, or no one seemed to hear me… as always.

"_Why should I…? After all, you WERE a failure…_"

"F-failure…?" I wondered.

"_You… don't remember? What a shame…_"

* * *

Everything went black. I was in the same area again… the dark void with flames. I started to question myself what the hell was going on. But all of a sudden the same creatures I saw earlier flew towards me at a lightening speed. I couldn't catch up with them as they were so fast. I shot every direction around me. Some of them managed to disappear but one of them got me as I didn't turn around quick enough.

"**AHHH**!"

The thing exploded and my back began to hurt a lot…

* * *

I was back in the same room again… but my back still hurt…

"…sh…DASH!!"

The comm. Link started to beep…

"Private Dash here. Come in." I answered as I stood back up, leaning on a wall…

"Private Dash!! Tell us your status!" The team 2 leader shouted from the comm. Link.

"I'm the only survivor…" I groaned in pain but replied more or less.

"…Dash!! Come to… the third floor… NOW!!"

The comm. Link got cut off.

I tried to ignore the pain and move ahead of what was going to happen now… I went to the next room… It was the stairs… I started climbing them but it was still rather hard thank to my back bleeding a little bit.

I reached the second floor. I just had to turn and climb another set of stairs… and I had to find out if there were any survivors of team 2. If I kept slowing down they'll be dead and I'll be the only one surviving in both the two teams.

Suddenly, a dead body fell down. I aimed my gun upwards but no one was in the stairs above me. But there wasn't a thing or anyone there.

I continued climbing the stairs and was at the third floor. The door lead me to a huge corridor, and the walls were filled with blood. But not a bullet hole was around the walls.

Behind me fell a body of a SFOD-D member. I turned around and looked above me to see who might have dropped it. But unfortunately I missed the cause of the body falling down.

I kept walking towards the corridor and saw a corpse of another dead SFOD-D member. On the floor near his body were hand prints… but what was worse blood dripped from the ceiling as well.

I looked up and the blood had blood like foot prints. They looked familiar but right now not a single person was walking on a ceiling… hell it's not even possible for anyone to walk on a ceiling.

I saw another SFOD-D member's body. It was pinned to a wall. His neck was pinned and blood still squirted from it, as well as his hands and feet. But more disturbingly one of his eyes were pinned and it was still bleeding.

The door nearby lead me to a dark room. It wasn't dark enough to be pitch black but dark more or less. The floor gave a reflection of me as it was made of bullet proof glass. But above the reflection of mine I saw someone walking. I looked up the ceiling. Nobody was there, but when I looked back there wasn't anyone either. Maybe I was just imagining something.

Suddenly, one of the SFOD-D members that were dead from the corridor I was earlier flew to the room. It landed right behind me.

The helmet of the soldier dropped a videotape. I looked at the helmet. Surprisingly there was a record button and videotape slot at the back of his helmet, though I don't remember seeing these things on other soldiers' helmets. Maybe the helmet was intended to record whatever the soldier saw.

I looked at the other room near me. There was a small T.V and a VCR, possibly for security reasons. Strangely, for a security camera the VCR was empty.

I put in the video tape in the slot and pushed play…

* * *

**October 12th, 2005 7:23:09 Begin video playback**

**Private Johnny Foss**

The team 2 leader kicked the door open… they were in a corridor. 

"Okay, three of you… Foss, Stacker, and James. You stay here and tell us of any enemy movement. Don't even let an ant get in here…" He ordered as the rest of the team members entered the other room.

"Man why the hell do I have to stay here…" Private James groaned as if he was bored.

"Hey, I sure I wasn't there because we'd be fucking well dead for sure if we went with them… you KNOW he lost the signal of the team 1 members." Private Stacker replied to the comment.

"Hey, they have a KID that's new to the team. How the hell is it NOT possible that team 1 lost all the members already??" Private James argued, quite frustrated, "those damn Replica soldiers deserve to die…"

"Well, we can't just assume we lost ALL team 1 members. There may still be survivors…" Private Stacker came back at James.

"How the hell did they survive? They have a kid and we lost their signal…"

"Who knows??"

The two started arguing, but suddenly Private Foss shouted, "hey guys, STOP!! I hear something…"

They heard footsteps.

"Enemy movement… get ready." Stacker warned as the trio got their weapons out.

They looked around the corridor… suddenly the lights kept flickering on and off.

"I got a bad feeling about this…" Private Foss stuttered in horror.

"You have a bad feeling about everything." James joked.

"Hey, what's that??" Stacker shouted as he pointed at a little girl with a red dress.

The girl moved closer and closer to them…

As she was about two feet away, one of the soldiers started floating above the other two soldiers, and pins started floating in front of him too.

"What the hell…?"

He was smashed to a wall and the pins flew at each part of his body at a lightening speed. The last one stroke at his neck, which instantly killed him.

"What the fuck? RUN!!" James yelled as Foss also did, but suddenly James' body flew and hit the ceiling nearby and went to a nearby vent. He then saw blood pouring like mad from there. Suddenly, Foss became shorter…

"MY SPNIE!! What the hell??"

He had to crawl instead… he looked at the floor as his armor and hands were stained with blood. He looked behind him but the girl was no longer there. But he kept crawling anyway…

"_Over here…_" A voice was heard from the ceiling.

He looked up and saw the girl again…

**Injury/Symptom/Death? 7:26:59**

**End video

* * *

**

The video ended after everything turned red. I rejected it back out of the slot but I still decided to keep the tape so I could at least show this to the other members... 

Speaking of other team members I had to find them now.

"DASH!" I heard a voice.

There were two remaining SFOD-D team members left… the leader and a private. They were hiding in a small office… under a desk to be specific.

"Thank god you're still alive… but the others… I can't believe it." He coughed as he clutched his stomach in pain.

"What happened to the rest of your squad?" I asked as I kneeled down.

"All of a sudden, one of our members started shooting at us, constantly saying, "THERE'S FETTEL!!" and shot one of our other members. While we did not want to betray, it was our only choice and we shot him…" The leader replied.

"What happened to the other one? As far as I know that means there should be three of you remaining by now..."

"He got shot down by the enemy… they're up ahead and looking for anyone who's still alive."

I looked quite confused at the first part but I had more important thing to take care of… but the leader continued speaking.

"We looked around the entire building… there wasn't that many enemies as we thought… we managed to annihilate from the floors above us them but from this floor we were short on men… but once that enemy squad is down, our mission is complete… for sure."

I nodded as I heard footsteps… there were those soldiers again.

"TARGET SIGHTED!!"

They opened fire but I got out that new weapon I picked up earlier… I lowered my eyes and fired nails at them. They were so powerful that when I killed one of them with it they went flying towards the nearby wall. The nails must have been pushing him with a really strong force that it would even send him flying.

The others kept firing but I quickly switched to my shotgun and ran towards them. I shot two of them down with headshots and there were still seven more remaining. But I decided to throw a grenade to take more out at once instead of dealing with them all one by one. I tossed one and the explosion only killed three of them. Well it wasn't half but still better than nothing.

Finally I got my assault rifle and opened fire at them. One went down but by that time my reflex time was over. Now I had to fight normally. This was going to be tough but I had no other choice. I jumped and kick the nearest one on the head and jumped towards the other one and shot him in the head while I was still in mid air. I landed safely to the ground but the last one grabbed me by the foot and nearly threw me to a window nearby, but that was stopped when the two surviving SFOD-D members got out of the room they were hiding in and shot him down.

"Whew… you did it!" The surviving SFOD-D member gasped as he slowly got up.

"No, **we** did it." I corrected.

"Dash, you're an exception to F.E.A.R… you're almost like the previous Point Man. We're sorry we underestimated you." The leader of the team 2 complimented me. That was the second compliment I had from this squad, the first from MY leader.

"Sir, I was wondering though… if you said no enemies were found on any floors, what WAS there?" I asked, which was quite important enough for me to know.

"Well we did see bodies of few ATC employees and security most of them had no bullet holes on them… but other than that nothing much really." He answered.

"…I see." I said.

There was a pause for a little bit but I asked, "shouldn't we call for evac?"

"Yes, I was just about to." He nodded and got the comm. Link…

"This is team 2 leader, McGarns. Mission completed… request evac now." He said.

"Very well then. A Blackhawk is on your way." The actual SFOD-D leader A. Shepherd replied to the request.

* * *

We entered the elevator all the way to the roof. Everything went well for a while… 

But we never knew what hit us when the elevator lost power and stopped all of a sudden.

"What the hell…?" I muttered as I fell down as it shook and stopped after a while.

"_SFOD-D squad… do you read me…? I've been shot down by… more… soldiers… the blackhawk is going down._" The helicopter pilot informed us from comm. Link, and we heard nothing but static from there.

* * *

**To be continued…**

**_Whoa, sorry about the long update, but I just had a few things to take care of. And yes this chapter DID suck, but I wrote it while I was in a sort of a bad mood… forgive me if this chapter bored you, but it's just me._**


	7. The Ride of Horror

**_Hey, everybody, it's Christmas Eve! That's right, and I got my new present; F.E.A.R.! Like I said in my first story, I never actually HAD the game but instead really borrowed it from a friend for a few weeks and beat it. But along with that I got Extraction Point, and one last thing I need for F.E.A.R. in my computer would be F.E.A.R. Combat, AKA the that cool multiplayer thing. For those of you who don't know about it, check it out at _****_Anyways, enjoy the story._**

**Chapter 7: The Ride of Horror**

The three of us stayed in the elevator for quite a long time now. The chopper was shot down so there wasn't any point in going to the roof now anyway. We had to find a way out of here… for sure something queer is definitely were to happen, such as the elevator falling down… or even worse that girl might just come out of nowhere and kill us for damn sure. I know she was going to if she came… if she killed those SFOD-D soldiers I saw earlier in that video, what are the chances of her not killing us?

I thought I felt the elevator shake a little bit, but maybe I was just imagining, or I was just getting dizzy. But neither of them were good things whatsoever.

"Heh… you boys got any jokes?" The team 2 leader laughed to at least cheer us up.

"No." I replied with a tired grunt.

"I knew you'd say that…" The team 2 leader sighed and relaxed at the wall.

* * *

Everything went blurry all of a sudden. My two surviving team members disappeared, so the elevator was now completely empty. But I definitely did hear quite a lot of things… 

"_You will be a god among men."_ I heard an old man say something… There was no old man in the elevator for sure, it was just the three of us… I mean just me, for now or what I think.

"_Give me back my baby!!"_ A girl's voice was heard loudly, and she screamed with a very loud "NOOOOOOOOO!!" afterwards.

* * *

The elevator's power was back on, but both my teammates were gone this time…….. But clearly there was no blood. If there was no blood, yet my teammates disappeared… what could've happened to them…? 

But there were a few traces of bullets on the floor, as well as the SFOD-D's sub machine guns. Maybe the elevator's power just went back on while I was having that vision…

I looked and found out what I thought was true; the power was back on. But nothing was pressed on the elevator so it wasn't moving. I considered pressing another floor, but stopped and pushed the open button…

The elevator opened widely. The room was definitely filled with blood, like what the leader said earlier… _"We haven't found that much of those soldiers but there were bodies of ATC employees… and guards too."_

I walked inside the room, making sure nothing was sneaking up on me whatsoever. I had to watch my back as well in case something would fly at me when I least suspect it. But still, as long as I had my weapons, I'd be safe for sure… at least they would defend me for a lot of things that would happen.

There were two skeletons as I kept walking. They were smeared in blood… could they be actually my comrades that died…?

"…Dash… Come in… Private Dash come in!" The team 2 leader spoke from the comm. Link.

"Sir?? Ohhh man am I glad to hear you!" I replied as I was relieved that those skeletons were not the surviving SFOD-D members.

"Dash, it's not that… more soldiers are coming from the roof… we have to clear this area before the Blackhawk comes back." He ordered as he seemed pretty weak, obviously from the battle we had previously before the ride on the elevator.

"Roger that… I'm on my way." I answered and cut off the comm. Link.

The strange thing was how did they get up there so quick? I mean, I was the only one on the elevator… and I'm on the floor where it DOESN'T lead me to the roof… it's not like the SFOD-D members have any magic powers.

But I can ask them later. What was more important was to keep moving and meet them up at the roof…

I went back to the elevator and clicked on the highest floor possible. The elevator might not be comfortable after the first ride, but it's better than climbing the stairs, which would be quite a long way to the top.

The elevator opened only at the floor just below the top level. It wasn't off power, but for sure I didn't press this floor. But for some reason I had a bad feeling that if I pressed the button to the floor above, something bad might happen… something particularly paranormal. I could just use the stairs… I stepped off the elevator and looked around if there were any staircases nearby.

The hallway had even more blood than before… it was probably enough to fill a swimming pool. But I noticed there weren't any bullet holes anywhere, or brass line either…

"_Over here…_" There was a childish whisper… it was coming from a door nearby…

I went close and tried pushing the door open…

"**AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!**" That same little girl came running straight at me at lightening speed. I moved away quickly and the lights flickered… the room was completely dark now but the hallway I saw next had lights.

I moved towards it, being careful that the girl wouldn't follow me this time, or come out and do the same thing when I least suspect it. I moved cautiously and looked around the room… there wasn't any blood here…

At the end of the corridor I heard gunfire… maybe there was a firefight going on between the two surviving SFOD-D members and those soldiers… or maybe not…Actually those SFOD-D members were at the roof right now, so they couldn't have been fighting right now.

I kicked the door open to see who was inside…

There were few men with armor that was labeled "ATC" and wore caps. They must have been the security. And there were also those cloned droids… if they were droids. But for sure they were the soldiers I fought earlier.

Suddenly the wall busted and there came that heavy armored soldier I fought earlier. Every ATC security opened fire at him more except two of them, who kept sniping at the remaining soldiers. But those soldiers were still outnumbering them… But from another door on the other side came another ATC security. He had a really big weapon and when he fired, it shot three rockets. Two of them hit the heavy armored soldier while the other one homed at the remaining soldiers behind him. It killed three of them but there were still that remained and fired back.

The heavy armored soldier came closer, and without thinking, the ATC security just simply fired the rocket launcher. The rocket blast managed to disable the heavy armored soldier but also killed about five ATC securities at once as well. Only three of them remained… and the clone soldiers continuously fired back at them.

I rushed in and fired at the cloned soldiers… I could probably save the ATC security and find out more about what's going on and who or what these soldiers would be.

I got out my assault rifle and fired furiously at them, creating an onslaught and they went down one by one. But the survivors remained and fired back, but I lowered my eyes again to see where the bullets were going. When I got close enough, I slung my assault rifle and took out my shotgun, and fired at the survivors. They went down on their feet in no time.

I went back to the surviving ATC security… "Um… are you guys okay?" I questioned.

Suddenly one of them punched me and I hit a wall nearby…

"We do NOT allow others to know about ATC's secret… so we must silence witnesses, and in short that includes kids like YOU." The one that punched me replied.

"Wha… What?"

The survivors fired at me and those bullets nearly hit my foot. I jumped sideways and lowered my eyes again, but my reflex time was short I had to think fast. I still had my shotgun and fired at them each on the face. Blood came off of their heads… I didn't want to kill actual people, but it's just self defense.

I proceeded to where the security guard with the rocket launcher came from. The room seemed to be an armory, with ammo for basically any kind of weapons. I decided to pick up some shotgun ammo as well as assault rifle ammo. The penetrator ammo was still good for me as I haven't used it much. With that I looked around the armory a bit more. There was a little blue button. I pressed it…

_Whiiiiiiiirrrrr……_

A wall nearby opened and revealed to be a hidden elevator. I entered and pushed the button to go up…

The elevator reached up to the top floor, just right below the roof… the bad thing was that I heard gunfire from above. There was even a hole at the ceiling… a huge one to be more specific. The roof must have been near…

I quickly rushed and tried to look for another staircase to get the hell out of here. Any place would be better than here. I had a team to rescue and an area to secure to escape.

Although there was a short staircase nearby, I noticed a red light flashing. I examined it and got closer…

When I got near one of my grenades fell off by accident and when it touched the flashing thing, it exploded and sent me flying to the opposite wall. I was glad I wasn't severely injured but still if I took one more step it would definitely have been my doom… for sure.

But the mime was gone. I moved and climbed the stairs to the roof… there were a lot of those cloned soldiers here, but they didn't notice me. They were firing at my last two surviving teammates… and one of them went down to his doom. It wasn't the bullets that killed him, but the glass that was behind him was shot and the pieces pierced his neck.

I had to save the last survivor quickly. I rushed to the soldiers and fired my penetrator at five of them, and they went down with the nails piercing through their helmets. They got their attention on to me and started firing at me. I lowered my eyes and kept firing… two more got shot down. But after those two were dead a heavy armored soldier blasted through from where I came from and fired HIS penetrator at me. I threw a grenade to keep him busy but it definitely didn't kill him… the last time I tried tossing a grenade on this type of soldier resulted in him surviving him only just damaging him, and even those two rockets that the ATC blasted at him didn't even kill him. But this would definitely leave some dust for him not to see for a bit.

I continued firing at the ones I was fighting before the heavy armored soldier came, but my reflex time was running short. I threw my last grenade to try and finish them off… there was still one more surviving soldier. While there was still dust, I jumped straight at him and kicked him in the face. The kick managed to get him off the building as he dropped down from quite a distance from where I was.

But the heavy armored soldier was probably able to see clearly now or just randomly firing. There was still dust from the explosion but most of them died down. I fired my penetrator again, but I had to reload. When fighting this guy I wouldn't have any time to reload before he would fire or bash me… if he did bash me again then I would fall off the building like the other soldier I kicked did. I got out my shotgun and continuously fired at him. But that wasn't as easy as shooting the penetrator due to the cocking I had to do to the shotgun before I fire.

I had to reload for my shotgun… and he would come and kill me as reloading shotgun would take twice as longer than the penetrator.

"D…DASH!! USE THIS!!" The team 2 leader shouted as he clutched his stomach in pain, but also threw another weapon at me. I dropped my shotgun for now and caught the weapon. At the side it labeled, "MP-50 Repeating Canon". It wasn't fully reloaded but it was better than nothing. I fired the canon at the heavy armored soldier. It created a huge impact on him and there was a huge bruise on the armor. I fired once more and he was disabled…

Another helicopter arrived to the roof… it wasn't the Black Hawk for sure. I looked inside and three of the same soldier came zip lining from the ropes that were dropped down.

I fired one of the ones still zip lining before he got down with the canon. But that only caught the attention of the two remaining soldiers. One of them carried a rocket launcher…!!

The other one had another weapon I never saw. But the team 2 leader came with his weapon and tried to shoot at them, but before he did the soldier fired his weapon. It sent some sort of a beam at a lightening speed. It hit him, and his skin melted into crisp and all that remained of him was his skeleton.

I looked at them in horror. I lowered my eyes. Even if I did this battle would sure be tough for sure. I fired my canon but accidentally missed as I was running. The one carrying the rocket launcher fired at me. I managed to jump out of the way but the one with the weapon that killed the team 2 leader fired at me as I was dodging. My foot was only an inch away from getting hit as I rolled.

I fired my canon again at the one with the rocket launcher, killing him. But the last one fired at me once again. It didn't hit me but the canon. It flew off of my hands. I took out my assault rifle once more and fired at his head… He was down and dropped his weapon.

The battle made me really tired… Sweat dripped down my face. I dropped my weapon as I got even more tired and gasped for breath. This was just my first mission and I was already tired… whoever this F.E.A.R. point man was he sure would've been a hard worker… and a muscular person as well, seeing as he was able to handle a hundred of these soldiers at once from what I heard.

I leaned near a wall as I called for evac and saying that the area was clear.

I was the only survivor of this battle… though I felt like I just finished a long war and became a war hero, it really was the beginning of a new long battle… there was the missing Point Man to find… and more of those soldiers to deal with. But once we find the point man, our hopes of ending this war would end will be more likely for sure.

I saw the black hawk coming to the roof. It landed safely and I walked towards it… I was really tired now. I needed a rest… it's only the beginning, as I said, but for now resting would be good to ease my mind from the troubles I had today. I hope today would only get better.

I fell deep asleep…

* * *

I saw the same little girl. She was in a capsule, tubes connected to her everywhere. She looked at me… and on the capsule there was a huge button saying "eject". I wondered if I should press it or not… she seemed to look desperate and I could see sorrow in her eyes. She knocked on the capsule as if she wanted to be free. My hand reached for the eject button… 

"Don't do it!!" A voice was heard…

I turned around and saw a man. He wore a balaclava mask that concealed his face along with a helmet, an armor that was labeled "F.E.A.R."… and he held his weapon aiming straight at me.

"Unless you wish to meet the same fate as her father did… don't get free her." He warned me.

I turned around again. The girl kept struggling to be free… then I turned to him. It was a tricky situation… did I have to pick fate or life? If I freed her, it would've been the path to the "fate" the man mentioned… if I chose life then I wouldn't do anything…

"Her name is Alma… if she is freed, she would bring chaos to everyone." The man explained with some serious tone.

Then another man appeared… he had blood all over his mouth.

"I shall free her… brothers…" He said as he got closer to the capsule.

"F…Fettel… Fettel NO!!" He screamed as the other man named Fettel pushed the button… Alma was free.

* * *

I woke up and found myself in the F.E.A.R. HQ… I laid on a cushion nearby. 

"How's he doing…?" Commander Betters asked as Ms. Kwon examined me. Maybe the commander just wanted Ms. Kwon to check up for a moment to see how I was doing… man he takes his job so seriously.

"He's going to be alright… and he definitely doesn't appear to be injured… at least not severely." Ms. Kwon replied as she looked at my wounds closer.

"H…how long was I here…?" I moaned as I rubbed my eyes with my hand.

"You've been out for about four hours… you should get some rest." She replied as she got out some bandages. She warped them around my wounds from the heavy armors I fought from the building.

But what was more shocking was I was asleep for whooping four hours.

I tried to move but Ms. Kwon stopped me for obvious reasons. I had to sit down in this room until I'm okay… at least to what she thinks is I'm okay. She's the medic, I'm the patient.

I took off my helmet and placed them on the floor. When I did Ms. Kwon looked at me… a bit strangely.

"Um… is something the matter?" I asked as I looked back.

"Hm… not really… you just look so similar to our previous point man." She replied.

This "previous point man" sure was quite a mystery to me… I was just itching to know who he was. A man who can take out more than hundreds of those soldiers at once, someone who this… Alma would definitely know, and maybe even had the same thing I went through so far.

More importantly, my parents would be worried sick right now if I don't hurry…

"Ms. Kwon? Can I at least use the phone…?" I asked as I got worried… my parents are going to ground me for sure this time.

She got out her cell phone… "Thanks." I replied.

I dialed and the phone started ringing. Just at the first ring my dad answered, "Hello?"

"Uh… dad…?" I called.

"Dash, where in god's name are you now???" He questioned, really angry.

"I… I…I'm at the hospital." I invented, but would probably make things worse.

"You WHAT? You got in a fight?"

"NO! Dad, who do you think I am…?"

There was a long pause, but I guess dad didn't really want to answer that, "What hospital are you in?"

Now it was MY long pause… Now I had to think of a hospital. If I said F.E.A.R. HQ he'd complain that I just joined a team of squad full of rifles that fights paranormal forces. I didn't even get his permission to join from my parents yet.

"I… I'm… I don't know." I replied, but added, "look, don't worry about me. I'll come back home tomorrow by afternoon or so."

"…Let me talk to the doctor first." He said.

Now my eyes became wide… it was going to be a long night between me and my dad.

"Here, I'll cover for you." Ms. Kwon offered as she might have been close to laughing from what I could see from her face.

I whispered to her so my dad couldn't hear, "PLEASE don't say anything about…"

"I know, I know."

I handed her the phone, and she said, "hello? This is doctor Kwon. Your son will be fine… I'll send him back home by tomorrow morning."

I couldn't exactly hear what my dad said, all I heard were just random sounds from the phone. But Ms. Kwon ended by saying, "yes, bye."

I was relieved at least Ms. Kwon was able to handle that pretty easily. But now I had to stay in the HQ for the entire night… But then I didn't want to move around, taking bus rides or anything… I was too tired.

And hopefully nothing strange would happen while I'm here… especially at night, alone.

* * *

**_To be continued…_**

_**Sorry for the long update, but I just recently got a new computer. But thankfully I had my flash drive with me, but still I lost so much from my computer . . Oh well, I hope everybody has a great Christmas. Merry Christmas, and happy new year.**_


	8. One Path

**_Everybody had a nice Christmas? I hope so! I did too! OKAY, LET'S ROCK THIS CHAPTER!! R&R!!!!!!!!_**

**Chapter 8: One Path**

I closed my eyes, resting from the amount of tensions that I saw the entire night. Even worse, my notebook curse of saying seven days was now cut to FIVE days left. The mystery kept going deeper… as it deepens, I find myself in a nightmare deep in another.

The HQ sure was dark during midnight. Here I was, sleeping at a place that's somewhere but my room. Nobody was around as they all left to go home… they all probably assumed I'd be fine here as long as nobody entered. Well it would be pretty disturbing to be in such a place without much lights and nobody around. It's funny though that they'd leave with a person, particularly a kid, behind in a huge place with guns and stuff.

I closed my eyes… I didn't have to worry. No one would complain about it, I'm getting even more tired than before, and I had too much trouble going on in my head… I needed a rest that badly…

* * *

I was in the mid air. I couldn't see myself, but I did see places, people, and things around me.

There was a woman, and a baby, as well as several doctors in a hospital. It looked so similar… especially that baby.

"Give me back my baby!!" The woman cried as she reached out to get the baby. But the other doctors grabbed her arms and ankle and held them on the bed that she was on.

One of the doctors looked at the baby and said, "You will be a god among men…" and then turned to the other doctors, "take her back the vault…" and took the baby somewhere else.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" The woman cried, but one of the doctors grabbing her got out a needle and drugged her, and she was unconscious. I felt a little sympathy for her as others moved with her…

I flew to see where the baby was being taken. There was a capsule… and the doctor put him in there. Then pressed a few buttons…

But something caused me to suddenly go to see what the woman was doing. She was sleeping… but traces of her tears before she was drugged was still on her face.

Then the whole place changed… this time I saw another boy. He looked younger than the one I saw earlier. But more or less it was another baby…

I kept looking at him and I noticed the clock nearby rotated pretty quickly. When I looked back at him, the boy seemed to be a slightly older elementary kid now.

He clutched his head and screamed, and I saw him running off… there were a few people working in an office, but the boy came out with a knife and slashed about ten of them to death…Then he killed more and more…

The place changed yet again. The girl I saw in my dream earlier, Alma, was in a capsule too… but this time there were green liquids. She had tubes all over her and on the machine it said, "No life signals detected".

Suddenly, I was able to see myself. I was on the ground and I could clearly see my hands. In front of me was a doctor… and Alma was still there in the capsule. But the doctor typed on the keyboard… and the machine opened up.

"Alma…!! NOOOOOO!!" The doctor screamed as his skin dissolved and turned into a skeleton. She broke free and she was out… She moved closer to me.

"M…my… my baby…" She whispered as she dashed at me a lightening speed…

* * *

I woke up, only to find myself back at the F.E.A.R. HQ… It was only a dream. But it was rather bizarre… In fact it was the strangest dream I ever had in my life… ever.

I looked outside the window. It was almost morning, from what I could tell from the clock nearby as well.

"You've had that dream, haven't you?" A man's voice was heard… and it was quite raspy, "I had the same dream… only I was the one who killed them."

I looked around the room I was in. I looked behind me and saw that man was just behind me. He had blood all over his mouth.

"Who… are you?" I questioned as I got back up.

"I am Paxton Fettel… but that does not matter…" he said as he moved closer to me. I backed away, seeing as the blood all over his lips dripping down didn't seem like he was a friendly person at all…

I finally remembered… he was the same man I saw in my dream about Alma… or whatever this girl was called.

"What's your purpose of being here… and your intention??" I wondered as I was soon cornered to a wall nearby as he just kept approaching… he kept staring at me as if he was literally going to eat me up alive.

"I'm here to bring you back… to where you belong."

My eyes became wide… what the hell did he mean? I belonged at home… I didn't belong anywhere else but from my own family.

* * *

All of a sudden he disappeared and the whole building began to change. This time the walls were covered in blood… and there were bodies of doctors everywhere and even some people wearing hospital clothing… the ones that the patients wore.

Would that mean… I was at a hospital?

I heard the same man's voice, "Auburn Hospital… do you remember it?"

Instead of turning around, I closed my eyes… this had to be a dream. I can't be in F.E.A.R. HQ and a hospital full of blood yet no doctors or nurses around at once.

"Keep on thinking… we were here… this was when you first opened your eyes."

I couldn't ignore this man any longer. I turned around and threw a nearby chair behind me… but all I did was break a nearly broken door to pieces. I felt hopeless here… I deeply breathed in horror, but why should I? All I was doing was just being scared about a man talking… the hospital should have some people alive… right?

I kept walking and opened a pair of double doors nearby. From a wall that was made out of glass I saw a nurse… maybe she could tell me what the hell is going on here and why I'm even here right now.

I approached to her. But she was looking at a drawing that some kids did. But for sure there weren't any kids nearby… they'd be too scared to even be here.

"E…Excuse me… nurse?" I called, but she didn't even move her head to look up.

Just then the ceiling tore off and bodies fell down to the floor behind me. I jumped and turned around quickly but I missed what could have thrown it. I approached the bodies and looked up the ceiling.

There was a pair of legs.

But right at the second I saw it they just disappeared. For sure the legs weren't cut off from someone alive. If it was it would squirt blood, but those legs definitely looked like nothing happened to it. In fact it even clued that there was someone here… for sure.

I heard footsteps behind me. When I turned around that nurse jumped towards me as she reached out. Before I even backed away she got me, knocked me down on the floor and began to choke me. I tried to get off from her grip but that didn't really help much… She choked harder and harder…

While I was still on the floor I saw a cutting knife… those ones that doctors used during operations. I took it and stabbed her right down her throat. She stopped choking me and fell down the opposite way. I quickly got back up and tried to run away but from where I came from earlier more nurses came, but they had knives, injections, whatever hospital equipment that would kill me or do something bad.

I ran the opposite way. This time the bodies that fell down earlier were somehow moving… but how…?

Though I did notice… they seemed to move more like puppets than normal people.

Speaking of puppets… if they were moving like them, who's doing these things?

Surrounded, I tried to look for my way out. The only way running away was just a wall. I backed away from them but all that did was reducing my chance of escaping now that I was cornered. They approached me closer and closer… They reached out their hands…

* * *

I found myself back in the real world, the F.E.A.R. HQ… I saw a knife stuck on a wall as well as several things knocked down… but there was still blood on my gloves. I even looked at my uniform to see blood stained all over.

"_Dead…stay dead…_" I heard a voice from nowhere. But I ignored it… well decided to. This was getting more than twisted… all of this. My notebook, the girl named Alma, this man named Fettel, the previous F.E.A.R. Point Man, my visions… it's been haunting me for days… I could just sit here and do nothing so nobody will do anything to me. But I had to carry on… doing something would stop and send these visions down to hell.

Someone walked into the room. It was… Ms. Kwon. She was probably here early for her "patient."

She looked quite surprised, "D…Dash? What happened to…"

She must have been referring to my armor and gloves… I replied, "I… I don't know."

If I told her I had a vision, she definitely wouldn't take that. Who the hell would have VISIONS, especially if they're completely sane? I'm sure I am… otherwise how the hell would Commissioner Betters just put me into the team?

She took a closer look.

"They don't seem to be injuries for sure… but I don't know how the blood could have been here." She examined carefully at the blood on my gloves, "Well, no one wants to see you full of blood… so wear these." She said as she got a few normal civilian clothes from her bag.

"Why did you bring a bag with civilian clothes…?" I asked, rather curious.

"For you… you're not planning to go back home with your armor right?"

She made a good point. I took off my gloves and took off my armor and quickly changed to those civilian clothes. If I came back home with blood all over I guess I had series of explanations to go through, even if I didn't have any blood on the armor as I joined this team without notice. But then the different clothing would also be "must-explaining" as well, but it's better than the "blood stained armor and gloves" idea and would have less explanations to go through.

"Uh… Ms. Kwon? I have a question." I said as I finished putting the clothes on.

"What is it?" She asked as she brought out her breakfast from a paper bag.

"I… was just wondering if you knew… who… this person named Alma was."

Ms. Kwon looked at me rather strangely for a second, but then took out an apple out of her bag and said, "I don't know if you'll understand anything I'll tell you about her."

"No, Ms. Kwon! I'm serious… I need to know!!"

Ms. Kwon looked at me again, but this time she took a deep breath and said, "very well…"

She sat down and put her apple back in her bag. Maybe this Alma stuff really was a big thing.

"This is exactly how the previous point man told me… Armacham Technology Corporation looked into genetic manipulation and enhancement to create a perfect super soldier… and that project was called Icarus. But at the same time, there was another project, started by a scientist named Harlan Wade. He started the Origin project, in which they were to breed a psychic soldier. But the projects both developed together and became the Perseus project. And to create two soldiers, they used Harlan Wade's daughter… her name was Alma Wade."

I was starting to understand the beginning… but I started to wonder why they chose Alma as a host to create two soldiers though… from what I can see she looked more like a six year old girl…

"Why did they choose Alma though…?" I asked, quite curious.

"Because Alma was very sensitive to other people's thoughts... And at the age of eight, she became part of the Origin program. Several years later, they gave Alma period, in other words, impregnating her. When she was 14 the first prototype was born, and a year later the second one met the face of the Earth. The first one was physically active, but incapable of using psychic powers. But the second one was more than able to use psychic abilities… he was able to control hundreds of prototype clones that were part of the ATC project at once."

Did she mean the prototype clones as in the soldiers I fought yesterday? Wouldn't that mean the second prototype is the one who's doing this…?

"Later Alma was stored in a hidden facility underground. But when the second prototype was seven, she telepathically linked to him and he began to murder several ATC employees. This was called the Synchronicity event. Everybody feared that if Alma was still alive, she would telepathically link with her son again and kill more people… putting everyone in danger. Therefore she was sealed in the vault. But after six days she died when they put her into a chamber in a secret facility… called the Vault. Her life support was removed and everybody believed she died."

"But Ms. Kwon… exactly who were the first and the second prototypes?" I wondered.

"The second prototype was a man named Paxton Fettel."

Did she say… Fettel? Did that mean the man I saw earlier and probably the one that lead me to the hospital?

"And the first… was our previous F.E.A.R. Point Man." She added.

That statement made me jump a little bit.

"F.E.A.R. Point Man…? THE F.E.A.R. POINT MAN???" I gasped.

She nodded.

My jaw dropped down a little bit. I never knew the F.E.A.R. Point Man was the son of the girl… but she looked so young to be a mother… But if I'm not part of Alma's family whatsoever, or even part of the ATC organization… then why is she after me??

"There's still more to tell…" Ms. Kwon blurted and added, "Genevieve Aristide, the president of ATC, had planned to reopen the Vault. With that Alma was somehow capable of telepathically speaking with Fettel again… and he controlled those cloned prototypes… in which call them Replicas. That's when F.E.A.R. Point Man joined our team, and he found out the mystery not only of Fettel's, but his own past as well."

I wondered why the president of ATC wanted to reopen the place… if Fettel killed hundreds of ATC employees why would the PRESIDENT of the company open the facility so Alma can link with him again?

But the story made some sense. I finally understood who this Alma was… and Fettel, and even better the Point Man.

"Thanks… that told me a lot." I said and sat back at a nearby chair.

"No problem." She replied as she got out her breakfast again. She took out an apple and took her first bite.

What was true anyway was that some people compared me to the F.E.A.R. Point Man quite a lot… Commander Betters said I have the "super human reflexes", the time at ATC HQ when… the girl, probably Alma mentioned "stronger than HIM", must have been the Point Man seeing as how he would've been one of the few people who might have seen her during combat, and Ms. Kwon even said our faces look so similar… would that mean I'm somehow involved in part of this crisis I'm in?

Suddenly, I heard my stomach growl… this was quite embarrassing.

"Ugh… I skipped dinner last night…" I moaned in pain.

Ms. Kwon giggled a little, and called, "Dash… catch."

She passed me an orange. Well, it was better than being starved all day… I like orange anyway.

I peeled off the cover and started eating… man I was coming back to LIFE! I wish I had more, but the amount of hunger I had just made me finish the whole thing. It didn't fully dull my hunger, but it was good enough to give some my energy back again.

I was so thankful I even bowed my head and exclaimed, "THANK YOU SOOO MUCH!"

I guess Ms. Kwon didn't expect that much for showing gratitude, but she accepted it with laughter anyway.

* * *

Ms. Kwon gave me a ride again. It was pretty early to go back home for today, but late too for not coming yesterday... in other words, it was 7 AM now.

Before I got off the car, Ms. Kwon added, "Dash, you know I improvised that for you."

"Yes, maim, and I'll keep my lips sealed." I nodded and she said, "I hope I see you again."

I waved her good bye as she left. I walked back home and was about to ring the bell… but just as I was about to my mom opened the door really quickly. She was still up probably worried sick about me... she must have been up all night. She was so happy to see me the first thing she did was hug me so hard. Being tired and hungry I was I didn't really want that…

"Dash!! Oh my goodness you're okay!! Me and your father were worried sick!!"

She let me go and I replied, "Sorry about yesterday… there were some… stuff."

Then my sisters came too. They were also worried sick, and gave me hugs. I was suffocating but I guess it's rather normal in these kinds of situations.

"Wh…where's dad?" I asked as my sisters let go.

"Oh, he went to work really early this morning…" Mom replied.

That was a good thing… I had no explaining to do for now. But even then I could still plan something out for later.

I went back to my room… and the first thing I noticed was my notebook turning pages.

"Five Days."

I already remembered that, but a few seconds later pages flipped again, this time showing, "You know the truth now…"

The truth…? Would that mean what Ms. Kwon probably told me earlier, and even the dream I once had before?

It definitely had to be what Ms. Kwon told me. I don't think anyone can see what kind of dreams I had.

But at least I found out who this Alma truly was… all I had to worry about is me. I had to think of ways how I would've been involved in the first place… maybe it was just that she mistakened me as the F.E.A.R. Point Man… if Ms. Kwon said me and him look alike, I guess she just mistakened me…

But then how would have the Point Man disappeared if Alma wasn't involved? I mean Alma must have seen him already before he was missing... Plus F.E.A.R. is a team that fights PARANORMAL kinds of things, not simple criminals...

I was finally home… I felt relieved… for once. Home felt like it was the only place that would help me forget about my troubles. But then forgetting troubles wouldn't necessarily mean it would abandon me… There was more to come for sure.

* * *

**To be continued…**

**_I know my spelling isn't correct all the time, and that I have some grammar mistakes, but I'm only human and can make mistakes. So don't go so hard on me if there was something you didn't quite get because of the grammar. Also, those people moving like puppets were NOT actually puppets; Dash just narrated/said they were just MOVING like puppets. Anyways, happy new year!!_**


	9. Haunted Memories

**_Wow, Jordan R. Was Here put me in the December 2006's best story! Well it's 2007 now… but the fact is, again, I'm a noob at horror stories. In other words, I TRY to make things scary, and end up having a story that's not creepy enough… ain't THAT shame? Well, I guess that statement of me being a noob in horror stories have been abused for quite some time by me, but hey, we all learn from reading other horror stories, we all learn from our mistakes. And I definitely think that in terms of horror this story will be bettered…!!!!!_**

**_Anyways, I'M SURE YOU HAD A WONDERFUL BEGINNING OF THE YEAR OF 2007!!!!!! I'll celebrate my profile with THIS STORY!!_**

**Chapter 9: Haunted Memories**

Every day of my life so far seemed like I was being haunted by someone. There seemed to be no escape from where I was, what kinds of thing I went through, and who those people were. They all seemed like they appeared out of thin air all of a sudden, beginning to haunt me just for no absolute reason.

I was laying on my bed… I was a little tired but I didn't feel like sleeping either. More and more nightmares would just get in my mind and it would be hard to forget what I might have seen in the dreams.

I got out a book from the bookshelf… at least that would stop me from thinking about these horrible things. Besides, it's one of my hobbies anyway. There was one I couldn't finish… this whole incident and college would be the reason.

I opened and tried to read… but the pages were all blank. I flipped through the pages to at least look for a page that had some writing on them.

I flipped through the pages so quickly that I even missed a page that I saw a picture… or maybe I just thought there was a picture. I tried to flip back to where the picture was… and the picture was gone. All pages were complete white…

I kept flipping through but accidentally dropped my book. When I picked it up, the cover had completely changed… it showed a girl with a red dress… and for some reason she kept looking bigger and bigger…

Suddenly my cell phone rang…

I stared at the book for a moment and put it on my bed. Then I stood up and picked up my cell phone, and answered, "H…hello?"

**AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

There was a scream so loud my cell phone suddenly exploded and all the windows were broken. Shards of glass were everywhere in my room but thank goodness I wasn't hurt.

When I turned around to start collecting the shards, that girl was right there, standing really close to me.

She made me jump a little bit but I rushed to the door… which was locked. She was getting closer to me as I was cornered.

"A…Alma?" I called her that… from what I think who she was. But she didn't respond.

She was just getting closer and closer. I wondered what she was going to do…

I felt a sharp pain my chest all of a sudden… I kneeled down and clutched it. She stared at me as she just kept on walking to me… but suddenly she stopped right at the second I looked back at her.

"_Do you feel it…? The pain I went through?_" She asked, but rather quietly… strange thing was she wasn't anywhere close to my ear.

I assumed she was talking to me… there wasn't anyone else she would talk to.

"P…pain? What pain…?" I wondered, "I don't even know who you are…!!"

The pain was getting even sharper… but all of a sudden it stopped… just as it felt like it was going to explode.

* * *

This time I was falling… it was a really dark pit, but I heard many screams. I KNEW I was falling down because my feet weren't touching anything…

I saw something below me… it was something red… I was getting closer, closer, and closer…

That red thing was apparently blood… but my feet didn't feel like they were on ground… maybe this blood was a _pool_ of blood. This was even more sick than the fountain incident at the park…

I swam down to at least see what was deep down… but just as I put my face on the pool of blood all of it was gone and I landed on a corridor… and the blood that was on my face dripped down to the floor… slowly.

I wiped it off to see better and when I walked a few steps I was suddenly hurled into the end of the corridor. There was a door… and I thought of opening it…

The door busted open and a naked woman came out all of a sudden and nearly swiped me. I jumped backwards… and she disappeared when I looked back again.

The moment when I saw the woman though she looked almost like Alma… would they have some connections…?

* * *

I was back in my room… but everything seemed like this never happened at all. The window was how it was earlier, and my cell phone was right on my hand… and the book I was about to read was on the floor as well. When I picked it up the pages had the normal texts again. In short, everything was back to normal.

"Dash?? Is everything okay there??" I heard my mom calling from downstairs.

"Y…yeah!! I'm fine!!" I replied, despite the situation being the complete opposite.

"Well your meals are getting cold!! Better come down quick!!"

I looked at my clock. The last time I saw it was 2:15 PM, but now it was 6:15 PM. How did all that four hours go by so fast?

"O…okay… I'm coming!!" I called back.

As I tried to open the door, the doorknob had some blood on it… I tried twisting it and when I did the blood was all gone. For something strange that happened to me so far, this was rather quick.

When I got out though, I looked down at my sock. The plain white sock now became almost complete red. When I took it off the blood began to go around my hands.

I quickly rushed to the bathroom and wiped it with a towel. The blood spreading seemed to stop with the towel, but I still had an uneasy feeling something might happen…

I went down to have dinner but there was no one in the dining room. And there was little lightening. Only a single light bulb that was almost dead was lit…

I took my usual seat but as soon as I saw the dishes broke all of a sudden. That was when I saw the light bulb crack all of a sudden… now everything was dark.

I did hear something in the fridge. I used my hands to find my way to the fridge. When I opened it, the sound stopped all of a sudden…

When I turned back to try and go back to my seat, some of the shards of dishes flew straight at me. I had to thank the lightening from the fridge. I rolled sideways but still dodging them pretty tough since the majority of the room was dark.

One of them cut my shin…

"AHH!" I moaned and fell.

I got the shard off and I saw a huge cut. Then all the shards of the plates flew straight at me at the speed of light…

* * *

The lights were back on. My mom and my sisters stared at me, wondering what I was doing kneeling in front of the fridge instead of eating.

"Uh… Dash? What are you doing?" Wendy (one of my sisters) wondered, looking very confused.

"Huh? I… I…" I muttered, but what could I say? And they were all just staring at me…

But the sharp pain on my leg came all of a sudden, and when I clutched it, I pulled my pants up and saw that same cut… this time it was bleeding. My mom looked horrified.

"D…Dash!! You're bleeding!!"

She got a first aid kit and wrapped my leg with a bandage.

"Try not to move too much okay?" She said as she closed the box and put the kit back to the drawer.

I really wondered though… if that was just a hallucination… just fantasy, how come in the real world my injuries would still be there?

Forgetting about the pain, I came back to the seat and began to chow down my meal… it was a bit cold so it didn't taste as good, but it was better than getting starved for the whole night.

* * *

After I finished I went back to my room. I looked at my cell phone and it said, "1 Missed Call". I checked to see who called it but the phone number wasn't on the data so I couldn't call back.

The phone rang again, and I answered it…

"Hello?"

There was no answer.

"Um… hello? Did someone call me?"

"_Do you like to play games…?_" The similar voice answered that, and I had a really bad feeling about this call.

"Um… who's calling?"

"_You know me…_"

I took a guess. This had to be her name.

"Alma."

"_So you know…_"

I felt like chuckling at that but something about her voice just made me feel even more uneasy.

"That's all I know… about you… just your name."

"_Really? Not even to realize that I'm your mother…?_"

Mother…? What the hell? Was this girl high or something? Did she purposely call me for a prank call or did she dial the wrong number…?

"_I know a game..._" She said, "_Let's play… Marco-polo._"

Hide and seek? On phone? What the hell did she mean…?

"Okaaaay… Marco?" I blurted.

"_Polo…_"

"M…Marco?"

"_Polo…_"

"M…M…M…"

I looked at the window. I saw a hand on it…

"M…Marco…?"

It was getting a little louder… "_Polo._"

"F…Found you?"

The hand somehow went through the window, and from there I saw a little girl's face… it was disturbing because her hair covered most of her face. She also wore a red dress.

"You…you… so you're Alma." I muttered, shocked to see her in my room once again. This definitely wasn't her first time in here…

"_Don't you remember…? You belong to me…_" She whispered as she got closer and closer…

"I don't belong to you… I don't belong to anybody!! I'm… I'm just… ME!" I furiously replied to her statement.

"_Are you sure…? Have you forgotten what happened in the past…?_"

Why did she keep talking about MY past, and not hers? Her past was a lot more sadddening than mine for sure… she was impregnated at the age of EIGHT, and her two sons were taken away… and even worse she was sealed in that facility for years… I'm just a simple human being… I don't have a past like that… at least to the "saddening" extent.

"_If you don't remember… I'll give you five more days to figure it out. Otherwise…_"

Five more days…? Did that mean what was written on my notebook meant…

"W…WAIT!!"

Alma was already gone… disappeared.

* * *

That was one mystery solved… at least what the notebook was trying to tell me. But the mystery of Alma haunting me all the time was another mystery… And another mystery was what was going to happen if I didn't find out?

I had to find out about my past, it's what Alma was trying to make me remember all this time. But what in the world was it about my past that she was so desperate for me to find out? And even worse what would be my fate if I don't find out? Most likely chances were that she would kill me… or anything else, but neither would be good.

I still had five more days left…

* * *

The best person to ask that question was my mom… I went to her room.

"Uh… mom? I have a question." I said.

"In a minute, sweetheart…" She said as she was trying to get something out of a bookcase. When she came down she turned to me, "what is it?"

"…I wondered… was there… something about my past that was so special?" I asked.

Mom seemed to be a little surprised that I asked that. It took her a couple seconds to answer, "…No."

Something definitely didn't seem right… "Mom, just tell me. I won't do anything."

"Dash, there's nothing special about your past. You were born from your mother and lived with us, that's final!" She scolded rather harshly.

Something definitely wasn't right here… The way she replied and the fact that she answered in such a harsh manner gave me the signs that something definitely wasn't correct about my past. But even then I can't remember a single thing… I was born in a hospital… from my mother's womb to go deeper… for sure.

There were many ways to know about my past. But asking mom or dad would definitely not work for sure… my mom refused to answer and my dad… well, if mom refused what would be the chances of DAD answering that question? And neither would my sisters know… they were too young by then to understand.

My past… was my past full of haunted memories?

What part of it was so important… was it my birth, or was it my childhood?

I stopped thinking about it… I still had 5 days left. It was better than having no time at all.

* * *

My cell phone rang again. I answered, "Hello?"

"Dash!! It's me, Katie… didn't you say anything about hanging out last night?"

Katie was my girlfriend. We've been together since grade 8.

"Aw… crap… I had this… stuff going on. Sorry." I apologized. Saying I was in F.E.A.R. would give her a lot of shock.

"This is the second time you postponed our date!! Dash, it's really starting to annoy me, but it also worries me that many things are happening to you…"

"Look, I'm really sorry but there was something urgent, I couldn't go that time."

"What about me, Dash? I finished everything I had to do before I went there, waiting for you for hours!!"

I didn't really want to argue…

"I'll make it up to you someday… trust me." I muttered as I went back to my room.

"Dash, please, if there's anything wrong, tell me!! I'm starting to get worried…" She blurted right after the second I said that.

"There's nothing wrong… really!! Except that I'm busy… that's all!"

There was a pause… but Katie soon replied, "O…okay… Dash… bye."

She hung up.

* * *

All these troubles just made me sacrifice so much… I lost so much after these set of incidents… And in fact if more kept happening Katie… I might lose her… or she might lose me… neither would be good. I almost loved her.

And she cared for me too.

I sighed, tired, and collapsed on to the bed… I may not have had a big day as yesterday, but it was enough to get my head fuzzy. I was hurt, I was tired, I was depressed, and I was shocked…

Next day would get better or worse… whichever it wa I had to get ready.

**To be continued…**

**_I know some of you are dying hard for fire fights in this story, but then sooner or later you'll probably go "ANOTHER fire fight?? Must EVERY single chapters have that??" But then think; my prequel had a LOT more fire fights than horror scenes… I wanted this to be more balanced. But again, for those who are just itching for fire fights, I'll promise to put them in the next chapter, if not two chapters after._**

**_Another thing is, the mystery actually did NOT stop deepening. We already solved the "notebook" thing, but what about Dash's past? That's still there to be a deepened mystery._**

**_Anyways, enough chatting… REVIEW!!!_**


	10. The Death of Freddericks

**_I actually planned on updating this on February 1st, but my internet connection got lost all of a sudden so I had to wait. Anyways, the long wait has ended, here's the next chapter. Oh, and P.S: Queen are the best British band of all time. They beat the Beatles by 400 votes._**

**Chapter 10: The Death of Freddericks**

It was 7:30 AM in the morning… I was still exceedingly tired. But I guess it's just because I thought too much last night… all I needed to do was to wash my face, exercise a bit, go to campus, and come back home later… my typical daily routine.

I got off the bed and dressed up… But before I did I checked my cell phone. It said "1 New Message". I checked and looked at the message… and I was quite surprised to see what it said.

* * *

TO: DASH PARKER 

FROM: COMMISSIONER ROWDY BETTERS

Dash, we have an important meeting… come here exactly at 4PM sharp.

* * *

ANOTHER meeting? Did I have another mission to go for? Just give me a break… But at least campus would end today at 2 PM instead… Tuesdays and Wednesday classes ended at 5 PM so I was a little lucky that it wasn't any of those days I guess. 

I quickly went downstairs. I had a big day to go through… So I had to leave early.

The dining room was quiet, empty, and dark. It was quite odd though… at this time mom would've been frying eggs and by the time I was here the toast should have come from the toaster. And if it was raining the lights would be on for sure…

I saw note on the table… "Dash, we have to leave early. Remember to wash the dishes before you go out. –Love, mom-"

What? Leaving me to fix breakfast myself?? Just how ridiculous can this get??? I feel like I don't belong in my family…

But I guess complaining wouldn't help. I opened the fridge and was about to take an egg. When I got it out though and lightly placed it on the table to get the bread on the toaster, but I suddenly head the egg move a bit. When I turned around, it wasn't moving or anything but it was shaking a little. I waited for it to stay still but it still kept doing that…

When I held the egg to stop it the egg cracked all of a sudden. Instead of anything yellow, everything was red instead. Oh man, another mess I had to clean up.

When I looked back, the toaster suddenly got out something. I approached it to see what it was.

It was… an eye.

Why or how the hell would an eye come out of a toaster??? And more importantly whose eye was it? For sure it wasn't dad's, mom's or any of my sis'… they left quite long ago, or just when I woke up.

This whole thing almost seemed like a set up. Why the hell would my family leave me in the house so early, and then an eye pop out in the toaster when I put BREAD??

I didn't know what to do… but the eye looked quite disturbing.

In fact when I got close to pick it up to throw it in the garbage can, the eye ball exploded, splattering blood everywhere. I backed away quickly and breathed deeply…

* * *

By the time I locked the door my heart was beating fast. Something horrible was going to happen while at campus for sure. So far the day hasn't gotten any better and in fact thousand times worse than the first time experiencing serious amount of supernatural activities. And chances of these things of stopping now when there is a curse on a notebook is extremely slim to none. 

Just then I heard a scream at my neighbor's house. Check that, really loud. If it wasn't loud enough I doubt I would've heard something INSIDE.

When I quickly rushed in and tried to open the door, the door broke into two pieces all of a sudden. One piece got me on my finger. It was starting to bleed but what happened to my neighbor – Mrs. Freddericks, was more important. She and my mom were close friends, and losing her meant a lot to my mom.

On the floor there was a trail of blood. Besides the trail there were foot prints and shoe prints. Maybe someone had blood on the bottom of his or her shoes…

When I followed the trail it lead to the master bedroom. When I looked around I was shocked to see who was lying on the floor dead.

"M-Mrs. Freddericks!!!" I shouted out loud. I got close to her and kneeled. She had cuts and bruises all over her.

But what was even stranger was that the blood trail continued all the way to the bathroom… I stood up and continued.

The trail ended in the bathroom. The sink and the bathtub was filled with blood. I drained the blood on the sink and just as I was about to drain the bathtub, I heard a voice…

"Brother… so we meet once more…"

I turned around and saw Fettel. He walked through the doors somehow and started walking towards me.

"I'm glad you arrived here…" He muttered as he drooled blood from his mouth.

"What the hell do you want…? There's nothing…" I blurted as I backed away, and couldn't finish my sentence as he got closer.

"Do you believe in your mind… or hers?" He questioned as he seemed to disappear, but not before saying, "I'll leave the two of you alone."

As soon as he disappeared a hand arose from the bathtub. From there Alma appeared, though this time she was a naked woman. She looked rather as if she wanted something from me, in a way that she would kill me to get something she wanted. As I backed away from her even more I ended up being cornered to a wall.

She ran to me at lightening speed and began choking me. I managed to get out of the grip by trying to elbow her. Though she remained what seemed like unhurt, she just let go. When she did she disappeared as well.

I breathed deeply… but… I… felt sick. I rushed quickly to the toilet and vomited.

* * *

After flushing my own vomit down I continued breathing heavily. I felt a little sick, but it wasn't that horrible. At least not enough to make me have to stay home from campus or go to the hospital. I cleaned my mouth and left the bathroom. 

I came back to examine Mrs. Freddericks' corpse. One of her eyes were plucked out, one of her fingers were cut off, her left arm was twisted, and worst of all her foot's skin was missing… just the bones were what remained.

* * *

Suddenly I checked my cell phone. It was already 8PM!! I had to hurry… I quickly left the house ran like mad to the bus stop.

* * *

Man, today wasn't easy. All this thing even made me forget to study for a test today. Hopefully I didn't fail. But then again F.E.A.R. had another mission for me… but before I go there I had to leave my stuff at home. No use in bringing notebooks to a F.E.A.R. mission. 

While riding on the bus I thought of something… how was it that my family just got out of the house… all at the same time, and not telling me about it? Worst of all why was there an eye on that toaster…

Wait, that eye… Mrs. Freddericks had an eye missing when I saw her dead body. But what was her eye doing in my house? And how did it get into my toaster?

I hurried back home after the bus stopped. I had to figure this out quickly… Quickly taking the keys out of my pocket and rushing home, I opened the front door and looked closely back at the kitchen. Strange thing was my family still wasn't home yet. Even more strange all the blood on the table was no longer there. It almost seemed like nothing happened.

"Mom…? Dad…? Wendy? M…"

"DASH!!"

I turned around and saw Mr. Freddericks outside. I opened the door and quickly rushed outside, even if I knew what he might have been here for.

"M…my wife… where's your mother?" He asked, looking quite shocked.

"I… I don't know." I replied.

"Well come and take a look…!!"

Mr. Freddericks ran ahead while I followed him but slowly as I knew what happened.

He led me to the master bedroom…

I was shocked to see what was there though. The room definitely wasn't the same. This time the lights kept flickering on and off, and Mrs. Freddericks' corpse actually was still squirting blood. It almost seemed like she died just now. When I came here the first time, presumably when Mr. Freddericks was at work, her blood wasn't squirting out... and this corpse meant she died not too long ago. But where was the dead body I saw earlier...?

"Mr. Freddericks, was Mrs. Freddericks like this when you came back or did she die after you returned… but you just didn't see it?" I asked while looking at the corpse.

No answer.

"M…Mr. Freddericks?"

I walked out of the room. I kept calling for Mr. Freddericks but there was still no answer. But when I came to the kitchen there he was, and he was looking at something else…

"D…Dash… Look at this…"

He was pointing at the table…

I couldn't believe what it was. It was Mrs. Freddericks' body… but her corpse was in the master bedroom!! What was it doing here now??? The whole place was like a mad house now…

The lights went off in the kitchen. But it wasn't TOO dark… at least I could see my hands a little bit.

"Sir…? What's… going o-"

I couldn't finish my question as I suddenly saw another Mrs. Freddericks, floating, but she looked like she was being hung. Just then another Mrs. Freddericks was there, missing a part of her head. Another Mrs. Freddericks appeared, but this time she had a huge cut on her neck yet she was standing up… with her face lying completely on her right shoulder. They all seemed to be approaching Mr. Freddericks… but after they were about an inch close to him they all disappeared…

"What… were those things?" I questioned myself loud, but the lights were back on all of a sudden.

"I didn't see anythi-"

Mr. Freddericks suddenly flinched a bit, and was sent to the wall all of a sudden… he clutched his stomach. Then something just kept pushing him to the wall… but there wasn't anything from what I saw.

Wait a minute… I only saw those "Mrs. Freddericks" when the lights were off… so that meant…

I turned the lights off. This time they weren't Mrs. Freddericks, but instead they were like dolls… they had no faces… but their arms and legs were nearly humanoid…

They were all punching Mr. Freddericks, but one of them grabbed a knife and stabbed it through neck, and killed him.

The darkness was only a nightmare… that had to be it. I turned the lights back on… and there he was… Mr. Freddericks was killed…!!

"You should know better by now…" I heard Fettel's voice again, but he was nowhere to be seen. Even more strange, those strange things that killed Mr. Freddericks disappeared all of a sudden. I even turned lights on and off to see if they were there or not, but they were nowhere to be seen.

Not knowing what to do, I quickly left the house… I reached for the doorknob…

However, getting near it somehow got Mr. Freddericks' corpse fly out of the window nearby the door, smashing it. The body laid on the ground, and the grass was filled with blood. When I got out the body had exploded and blood spread everywhere around the lawn. Nothing of Mr. Freddericks remained.

* * *

When I got back home I checked the clock. It was 4:00 PM. I had thirty minutes until F.E.A.R. meeting. But then Mr. Freddericks… and Mrs. Freddericks… what about them? If someone found out what should I do? Even worse by the time I went out mom and dad would've found out!! 

But I had to hurry… but first things first. I hurried back home and got to my room, got a piece of paper and wrote a note…

* * *

_Mom, dad_

_I have to sleepover today at Katie's because she needs help on something. Sorry.

* * *

_

I left that at the dinner table… hoping nothing weird would happen while I'm gone.

But the same question was still in mind though; where are my family? They left me so early in the morning… without noticing. Even much stranger they didn't call me even by my cell phone while I was away. It was really weird…

* * *

Oh great, what did I have to do now? Last time Alma helped me get there… to F.E.A.R. HQ. At least THAT was something she did good for me… something that didn't make my life a living hell. But then again she said something about me going to die if I went there. 

But more or less, she just had to appear when I needed her. It gets pretty annoying.

I had to ask directions for this one, but unfortunately not a single person I asked so far knew the way there. So here I was, just asking random people for directions in an army based headquarters. This really wasn't helping at all…

I was frustrated. VERY frustrated I might add.

"Dash? What are ya doin' here?" A familiar voice questioned.

It was Commissioner Betters.

"Commander Betters!" I called back and walked towards him.

"You forgot your make up or something?" He teased, and added "come on let's go."

At least that was great. Somehow I met Commissioner Betters walking somewhere I just randomly went to. I had to be thankful for that…

He led me to his car and we drove our way back to the HQ… At least I got this over with. But the F.E.A.R. mission would be a completely different story... now I had to shoot more bad guys, with possibility of me getting killed in the process.

**To be continued...**

**_That means the next firefight is in the NEXT chapter. For sure, yes. Anyways, I got over with the incident with that friend... Thanks for your patience._**


	11. Private Richard

**_I know, I know… long update. I had tests for what like the WHOLE week!!!!! Well that's over with… It's about time I updated, right? Yes, now please stop throwing that boomerang for the lack of update. Enjoy!_**

**Chapter 11: Private Richard**

The one thing I tried to get out of my mind was Mr. and Mrs. Freddericks' death. The last thing I wanted to imagine was my parents discovering them dead, but then again they would sooner or later… finding THAT out wouldn't take a genius…

At least the F.E.A.R. mission would help me stop thinking about the incident.

I rested my eyes in the car, and tried to forget about the Freddericks and concentrated on the F.E.A.R. mission I was about to have. It was either going to be freakier or more intensifying, either way there was a lot to expect.

* * *

The H.Q was rather empty compared to the last meeting. That time there were SFOD-D soldiers, this time there weren't any. Only Ms. Kwon and Mr. Holiday were there… for the F.E.A.R. team anyway. But in the meeting I also noticed another person there… never saw him though.

"Um… Commissioner Betters? I have a question…" I began, and Betters turned to me, "Let me guess, who the new person here is."

I nodded. I didn't think he would've been psychic or any sorts; it was pretty obvious I was going to ask that.

"All right, Dash, he's your new partner, Richard…" He paused, "Um… buddy? What was your last name again?" Betters whispered to him.

"Richard Ly." The new member replied.

"Yes… Richard Ly. He may not be having the same amount of reflexes as you did… but his aim is superb though… but more or less he will be your new companion." Betters finished.

"Well… nice to meet you, Richard…" I said as we shook hands.

He didn't actually look like an Asian, despite his last name… maybe either his mom or dad was Asian. Surprisingly, he also looked like a person around my age too. Here I thought I was the only college student to be in all sorts of firefights, but I guess I'm not alone anymore… unless if the "she" had to come and kill one of us… I hoped that wouldn't happen. She may have been horrible, but killing Richard would be going too far.

More or less we chatted a bit… might as well know a bit more about my new partner before one us dies in a mission. One of the first questions I asked was his age, and he was really the same age as me! At least I never saw him in campus, maybe he went somewhere different… something Einstein can find out in a millisecond.

Commissioner Betters came into the briefing room while we were still chatting. There followed two SFOD-D soldiers as well… they were also talking while the two of us were.

"_Only_ survivors? What happened to the rest of your squad?" Betters questioned one of them.

"We lost contact with Bravo Team but we did find a survivor… until Replica soldiers came to the room ready to ambush us. But after that they died all of a sudden…" One of them replied.

"What killed them? And that survivor you found?"

"He was killed along with the Replicas… when the rest of us Alpha Team tried to run away from the room, the door was locked and we were trapped… right until we found the missing F.E.A.R. team member… he helped us out by kicking the door open from the outside. As for the question of what killed them, we don't know."

Betters looked surprised, and even I was. Missing F.E.A.R. combat operative? Wouldn't that mean the F.E.A.R. point man?

"Who was it?" Betters wondered, asking without taking a pause after the SFOD-D soldier finished his last sentence.

"It was Spen Jankowski…"

Betters didn't talk for a while. He stood there, as he was loss at words. He might have been either happy or really shocked. But either ways he just couldn't talk. I decided to cut the silence…

"Sir, who's Spen Jankowski?"

"He's a missing F.E.A.R. operative… ever since the recent Point Man came in, he disappeared…"

The SFOD-D soldier continued though, "when we tried looking for him, he was gone. But there were bullet holes and trails in that room."

Betters nodded, and stated, "Alright, Dash and Richard, the two of you go in and investigate. I'll tell Commander Shepherd to send in more men… get your weapons ready… god knows what's going to happen… oh and see what might have happened to the Bravo Team chopper…"

"Where's the place we'll be going?" Richard wondered.

"Heh… forgot to mention that. There is a secret laboratory, in which many ATC employees are hiding there… we need you to find any survivors of ATC, and if possible even survivors of any members of Bravo Team."

We both nodded and headed to the armory. As always I took my Assault Rifle out… Richard seemed to like the shotgun more. At least we most likely wouldn't be encountering snipers… he seemed to know his stuff.

* * *

After exiting the armory, we headed outside… a Blackhawk just arrived… The strange thing was that there was only one. Last time I remember there were two… that probably meant there would be less enemies, or that the other helicopter crashed… or there was just one requested.

The helicopter landed… there were two other SFOD-D soldiers… our backup probably.

Before we hopped in Mr. Holiday came too.

"Mr. Holiday?" I called, wondering if he was going for combat.

"This is _our_ mission, Dash… and me and Spen go back a long way really."

"…How?" I wondered.

"It's a long story… for now let's get ready to kick ass."

* * *

I nodded, and took a seat. While I was riding I looked at Richard a bit. He didn't seem nervous at all despite being a first member of F.E.A.R. I doubt that anyone like his age would go into firefights… Even I'll admit I was nervous too in my very first mission.

I looked outside as we flew. We were going so far to even be flying over an ocean… in other words going to another island.

"This is Betters… Holiday, do you read me?" Betters questioned from a radio transmitter.

"Loud and clear." Betters replied.

"Good. I need you to destroy that lab too after the mission is over in case Alma is still in there… along with Fettel. I picked up his signal in that area."

"Roger that."

I thought why not just blow up the lab and then escape if there were clone soldiers about to attack us. But I had to remember the primary objective of saving any survivors in there first.

* * *

The Helicopter landed in a large area… we still had a long walk to go to get to the laboratory. Just landing anywhere near would only bring unwanted enemy attention.

The five of us got off the chopper… and the helicopter left us for now in case we need backup and the enemy gunship found us… a huge chopper would bring any flying thing's attention.

We were in a forest, and we had to find our own way to the laboratory. But we also had to be cautious in case anyone or anything would attack us. In forests anything could happen… from wolves to trees falling down… and possibly even Alma if she was out here. Even those clone soldiers might have been here to look out for anyone who might be coming to interfere with their plans… if they had any.

"Let's split up for now…" Holiday planned, "Dash and Chris… two of you go together and see if there are any signs of the crashed helicopter. Richard, Jimmy, and I will keep going…"

I nodded. Me and the SFOD-D soldier went to the western side of the forest. We had to check both sides before we move on and rendezvous with the others. The two of us searched for any clues of what might have happened to the helicopter Bravo Team took…

As if what I was thinking of answered the question, me and Chris found it! It was broken into several pieces.

"What the hell happened here?" He wondered and approached the chopper. The helicopter pilot was in there more than just dead. Inside the chopper blood was everywhere. Not only that, his body was **cannibalized**.

The weapons and ammo stashes were almost completely empty. Bravo Team probably consisted of ten members or more, otherwise there would still be a lot of weapons left. Thankfully it had assault rifle ammo so I picked them up.

Chris and I got out, and opened our comm. Links to Holiday…

"Holiday, we found the Bravo Team's chopper… not a single survivor is here." Chris informed.

"All right… me and Jimmy will secure this area… Richard, find and escort them back." Holiday commanded and Richard replied, "Yes s……"

The transmission suddenly got cut off, and we heard a little girl's laughter.

"You heard something…?" I asked, readying my assault rifle.

"Yeah… keep looking… let's not leave until Richard comes or something hap-"

Suddenly a nail pierced through his chest. He fell down to the ground, dead. I looked to see where the nail came from…

It wasn't Alma, or a clone soldier though. When I kept looking around, but not leaving the current area for Richard to come and find me, another SFOD-D soldier came, this time carrying a Penetrator.

"Hey…!! You just killed-"

I couldn't finish my sentence. Behind him I saw Alma, and she was walking right behind him. He aimed his weapon at me…

"Stupid girl…!! Stop this!!" He shouted really loud.

Although he was probably trying to say that to Alma, he aimed his weapon at me… was Alma doing the same thing she did to me, making me hallucinate and make me believe what I saw was true?

Out of nowhere, a shotgun blast killed the SFOD-D soldier. He dropped his weapon and died.

"Richard!!" I called as I turned back to him.

"We have to get out of here… now!" He warned as he ran away. When I looked towards where Alma and the SFOD-D soldier was, those clone soldiers caught up on us…

"_Threat sighted!!_"

I ran away as well to where Richard went, and gun fire followed us. We managed to get ourselves unhurt, but slowing down would've lead us to our downfall.

* * *

We reached Holiday, and we were panting heavily…

"Sir, those clone soldiers are behind us!! And we're outnumbered!! We have to hurry!!" I gasped.

"All right, move out! Go go go!" Holiday shouted as we both ran away. He shot back as he did too. It may have not done any good, but the best doing so did was slowing the enemy down and distracting so we can run away.

The laboratory was at sight, and we kept running as Holiday gave up shooting and followed us.

"There it is!!" The other SFOD-D member shouted as he also shot back at the clone soldiers chasing us. As soon as we got close to the laboratory, that SFOD-D member was somehow shot down.

* * *

The rest of us three members managed to survive, and quickly closed and locked the lab door as we entered…

"Close call…" I gasped as I caught my breath.

"You said it." Richard replied as he took some sweat off his forehead.

The only thing in the room was an elevator, but it was out of fuction…

"Crap, what now?" I wondered, rather frustrated.

"No worries… let me handle this."

Mr. Holiday got out a bomb attached it to the elevator door.

"What are you going to do with THAT?" I asked.

"You'll see." He answered as he defused and added, "Stand back!"

Me and Richard backed away as Holiday leaned on the nearest wall. The bomb blew up.

"Hope that didn't attract enemy attention…" I thought out loud by accident.

When the smoke cleared, the wall that was taken with the explosion actually revealed another corridor. I wonder how Holiday could've found that out without even telling us…

"Heh, a map like this sure comes in handy." Holiday blurted.

I looked at the wall opposite of the direction I was facing. There was a map to the whole laboratory! Never thought there was such a thing… that was awfully convenient. Unfortunately it was pinned to a wall, so we couldn't take it out and look as we explore… even then the map would only provide distraction for us from the enemy.

The three of us proceeded to the path that was blown up, revealing a short corridor. It took less than a minute to actually reach a door. Holiday kicked it open and it revealed to be the elevator room. I wondered why a lab like this would have so much elevators. There were about ten in the entire room.

"Looks like we got company…" Holiday whispered as he looked at one of the elevators. It was coming for the floor we were on… 1F. It reached B4… B3… B2… B1…

"Stay sharp!" Holiday added and we nodded, leaning beside the elevator and getting ready to attack.

The elevator reached 1… and it was about to open up. I put my finger near the trigger and waited for the elevator to open up completely and let the enemies come in to the ambush…

The elevator opened up. The three of us aimed directly towards the elevator… no one was there. But there was a lot of blood in it…

Holiday went in first… "This blood… seems like someone died not too long ago here…"

He got back out and told us, "Let's ride on another elevator… god only knows what could happen to an elevator with signs of dead people."

As if that sentence got another one's attention, another elevator opened up. This time it had one lone clone soldier. Although it was standing for a moment, he suddenly screamed in pain, dropped his weapon and fell down to the floor. Holiday neared the corpse first before me and Richard could take a closer look.

"This Replica soldier… I don't think anyone could've killed it this way…" Holiday said as he examined the body.

"Why?" I wondered.

"No bullet holes in his body… but there is a huge scratch on his armor." Holiday showed us a huge scratch, "We have to see where this came from… let's keep investigating."

We entered the elevator where the Replica soldier came from. Holiday clicked on B4. He made a smart choice, as last time we saw that elevator full of blood it came from B4. We had to check out what was happening there and what might have happened to other people down there.

* * *

At least the elevator ride went smoothly… not a single power outage or anything. If there was anything like that, for sure we might have been dead as those clone soldiers… or Replicas as Holiday called it, got killed in the elevator all of a sudden. The elevator opened after a bit...

The room was empty, surprisingly. Not a single person was seen inside… though there were bullet holes, no blood. We searched the area more thoroughly…

We heard gunfire from the next room however. We turned towards the door… there was still gunfire and Replica soldier voices, "Get the hell out of h… ARRGGGH!"

"…Dash… go in and investigate." Holiday ordered.

"Hey, let me join in. We don't want casualties." Richard spoke, reloading his shotgun.

"Alright then, you two go. I'll secure this area." Holiday agreed as he readied his assault rifle, probably in case the two of us got in trouble.

I stood next to the door, and Richard aimed his shotgun towards it. When I opened it he ran in and I followed, staying sharp in case if any Replica Soldiers still remained. The two of us looked carefully only to see the room full of not only dead Replicas, but also some ATC security guards, scientists, and employees…

"A fierce gun battle here eh?" I commented, trying to stay cool as Richard. However he didn't say anything back… but I think that was a bit obvious… until we discovered something.

"For a firefight there aren't many bullet holes in this room… you notice that?" I added as Richard nodded.

Another door however opened all of a sudden, but no one came out from it. It just opened all of a sudden… I really hoped that there was a window in that room and just opened it with the wind coming in… but that was quite unlikely, as that door was probably shut completely.

"DASH!!" Richard yelled, as he blasted his shotgun at the direction the door was. After that however he pushed me to the wall, and he was screaming in pain as he clutched his arm. I looked at it, and there was a huge scratch there.

"Richard? What happened???" I questioned immediately as I got back up.

My question was already answered though… there were those invisible things with red eyes that attacked me the other day again. I fired my assault rifle at them, hopefully thinking that would kill them. It only vanished one of them, but there were a few more coming. They came extremely close to me as they were ready to slash me with their claws…

Richard quickly shot his shotgun at the one closest to us, but the rest were still living, and were few steps away from coming to kill us. I backed away but tripped along the way, and they started getting much nearer…

However, they suddenly stopped and retreated… it almost seemed like they were being called from someone… but who?

I got back up and picked up my assault rifle again… and I checked to see if Richard was okay…

"Hey Richard, are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah… it's just a scratch…" He moaned, but tried to stay strong anyway.

"Richard, really man, don't try to use up your strength when you're injured. I'll take it from here…" I replied to Richard's response.

"Are you sure…? I doubt this mission can be handled alone…" Richard rejected my offer for him to stay here.

"Richard, your injured arm won't help us much… besides, I've been in missions like this before. And this is…personal… let's put it that way." I said, having nothing else to say to him. Besides, it WAS personal… if my past was something that mysterious, and Alma was here, then something definitely would be told for me.

"Alright, then… you better be alive when you come back…" Richard groaned as he rested near a wall.

I nodded and left the room. I had something of me to solve…

**To be continued…**

**_Not many firefights, I know, but I'm trying to create a scene here. I actually decided to dedicate the whole chapter on Richard instead of the scary things. Since the chapter about him is already made, next chapter will definitely be different… R&R!_**


	12. The Man Who Disappeared

**_Okay… next chapter… so tired…_**

**Chapter 12: The Man who disappeared**

I walked out of the room where I left Richard. It definitely wouldn't be safe for him to stay there or come with me, but for now it would do. Besides, Holiday would've been helping him too… if he didn't die while we were in that room.

The room was filled with bodies of Replica soldiers. They have been killed in many gruesome ways, from getting their tarsos ripped in half to even getting their head, legs, and arms cut off. This definitely couldn't have been those invisible ghosts that attacked me and Richard earlier… they're on Alma's and Fettel's side, for sure! If the Replicas are being controlled by Fettel… if what Ms. Kwon told me was right, then why the hell would the ghosts and the soldiers be fighting against each other?

I shook off the frustrating thought and continued on, with my eyes sharp. The hostiles may have been cleared in this area, but god knows whether I'm safe or not.

Suddenly a wooden shelf fell in the room, and every chemicals in it were spilled on the floor. There were even labels that said "DANGER, HARZARDOUS CHEMICAL" signs on the bottles before they cracked, so I backed away from the chemicals flowing to my feet.

"Go check it out." A robotic voice was heard.

It was one of those Replica soldiers… so there WERE still survivors…

I quickly hid behind a crate as they came into investigate what happened.

"Check it!"

"Roger."

Two Replica soldiers came into the room and checked everywhere around the room… everywhere except at least where I was… although I did hear a few screams from the other room.

"What the hell… ARRRRGHHH!!"

The Replica soldier was killed when I took a short peak. There was still one more left…

"Fuck!!"

The Replica soldier started shooting, hopefully not at me… but how could he see me when I was hiding?

The room turned silent for quite a while. I wondered what was happening over there…

When I got out of the cover the soldier was laying on the floor dead. However I saw a little girl wearing a red dress who disappeared all of a sudden… which I seriously doubted it was Alma.

When she did disappear though, all the room filled with blood and corpses were gone. And so were the hazardous chemicals that were spilled all over the floor. What did she do…?

The shelf however was still knocked down. I walked over it and moved onto the next room… though it wouldn't be any safer because that's where those things that killed the Replica Soldiers were.

Speaking of those things, where the hell were they? Did that little girl… most unlikely Alma… did something that reset everything and vanished the ghost like creatures? It definitely couldn't have been Alma for sure. She's here to KILL me. Why would a murderer all of a sudden be a savior? That's completely impossible.

I proceeded to the next room. There were dead bodies of some SFOD-D members here too… maybe that explained how Betters and the survivors of Bravo Team lost contact with them.

I heard someone groaning in a nearby corner… I checked by to see… a survivor.

"Excuse me, are you a Bravo Team member???" I questioned, kneeling down and looking at his wounds.

"Hey… d…don't get any closer…" He gasped in pain and clutched his chest.

"Hang in there, you're gonna be okay!!!" I replied.

"The F.E.A.R… Operative… is… a t…traitor… it's… J…J…"

The SFOD-D soldier's chest suddenly got ripped open, and the last thing I heard of him was a scream. When I turned back to see who did it, it was those ghostly figures again, but it soon ran away somewhere else instead of trying to kill me.

What the SFOD-D soldier said… a traitor…? What did he mean? And a F.E.A.R. operative? I really hoped that wasn't the F.E.A.R. Point Man Ms. Kwon was talking about… then again I remembered the other name… "Jankowski".

I stood up and continued on. The only thing left was an elevator, so I pressed the button to keep going down… But as I did I noticed the elevator was coming here instead.

I leaned near the wall and got ready to open fire as soon as it opened… until the radio transmission came in…

"D… Par… er… Hold your fire!!" The elevator opened as the voice became much clearer.

"M…Mr. Holiday???" I called as he came out.

"I had to check in on ya in case you were in trouble… I was starting to lose your radio signal." He explained and playfully punched me in the arm.

"Where's Richard…?" I asked, extremely curious and somewhat concerned.

"Well… we split up to find you. I'll try to contact him." Holiday answered and tried to contact Richard… "Holiday to Richard, do you hear me, over! Private Richard!!"

There didn't seem to be any answer. Holiday cut off the comm. Link.

"Either something happened to him or I just can't reach him over the radio…" He muttered.

Holiday then went for a nearby door and I followed. He kicked it open and the two of us went in to investigate… there seemed to have been a fierce battle between ATC security guards and Replica soldiers, noticing the bullet holes. While the ATC probably died because of bullet wounds from the battle, the Replicas had scratches all over them and even parts of their bodies torn off.

Although there was a body of a SFOD-D soldier there too… but the question was why there was only ONE. They couldn't have separated and even if they did they would've been in groups of two or more. Holiday checked the corpse…

"What the hell…? I see his own SMG bullets in his chest… he couldn't have possibly killed himself…" Holiday wondered as he kept looking at his SMG, which for some reason had a fresh clip on it too. But it was strange… if he killed himself why would the SMG round have a fresh new clip, and even more strange how could he be dead with full rounds? It DEFINITELY couldn't have been the ghostly figures… he was killed by BULLETS, not scratches. But it was even weird with a new clip on it… He couldn't have reloaded if he was dead…

Me and Holiday proceeded to the next room. There was nothing but blood in this room… but no bodies lying around. This didn't make sense, unless if people somehow managed to walk to the next room while they were bleeding. But then a single person wouldn't leave so much blood… or that more than one person would've been here and managed to walk out of this room by themselves.

Suddenly my comm. Link started to blink, implying someone was trying to reach me through the radio…

"Rich… here… Can anybo… her… me?????" It was Richard's voice, but I was barely able to hear what he was trying to say.

"This is Dash!! Is that you Richard???" I answered loudly, even if Richard probably couldn't hear me that well.

"…Found… F.E.A.R. operati… owski... with... irl in red dress… st… away!!!"

Then I couldn't hear Richard anymore. What did he mean? Did he mean he found the F.E.A.R. operative named Jankowski? And even stranger with girl in red dress meant just one thing for me… I really hoped he was okay…

"He seems to be in trouble… we have to move quick." Holiday said as if he was ready for battle.

However, the door ahead of us opened up… and there was a Replica Soldier coming out from there…

"TARGETS SIGHTED!!" He shouted as others came in to investigate.

Me and Holiday ran away from the room to avoid injury, and took cover behind a few boxes from the previous room. However by the time we found cover they entered the room. Holiday opened fire on them with his assault rifle and he managed to bring down a couple soldiers.

"Dash, take a piece of the action!" Holiday ordered and I nodded as I fired my assault rifle as well.

However one of the soldiers had a grenade in hand, so I had to get out of the cover or I would've been blown to pieces. I narrowed my eyes and the bullet trails seemed to go a lot slower. Not a single one managed to hit me. The slow motion also allowed me to see where the grenade was going. It was coming this way… right towards me…

I managed to bat it away with my rifle and it went straight towards back to the soldier that threw it. I just got lucky… but my reflex time was getting short so I quickly got back to taking cover. But that definitely wouldn't help as much as they would come and probably knock the crate down.

One of the soldiers had to reload so Holiday managed to rush towards him and roundhouse kick him in the face, making the soldier get knocked off his feat. But the surviving Replica soldier finished reloading. Seeing this I quickly fired my rifle at him, and the bullet luckily went straight to his face.

"Great work Dash… we're real bad motherfuckers down here. Aren't we?" Holiday teased as I laughed a little bit back.

We proceeded back to the blood room full of blood. We went to where we last saw the Replica soldiers entering… and that was when I heard my comm. Link beep again…

"This… Richar… Can anyone… me???" He faintly moaned.

"RICHARD!! Respond!!!" I shouted, now getting worried.

"…at B6… rendezvous there… NOW…"

And the comm. Link was cut off.

**To be continued…**

**_Yes I AM aware of those spelling mistakes over Richard's conversation with Dash("owski" is Jankowski, "irl" is girl). It was on purpose to show that there's huge amount of static on the radio. That's all I got to say for now. R&R!!_**


	13. Jankowski

**_I know the previous few chapters were shorter than most other chapters I wrote, but it's because of school stuff and the fact that readers might get angry at me for updating so late. But when spring break comes (which is in 1 more week for me), I'll make a longer chapter… this chapter sadly is the length of the previous ones, but next one might be longer. Enjoy._**

**Chapter 13: Jankowski**

We tried taking the elevator from the previous room… but boy we were out of luck. The elevators were offline for some reason. Probably a surviving Armacham employee just turned it off so no one can kill them… because Alma and Fettel wouldn't have done that; they would use elevators to kill people that went inside. And Replica Soldiers would have used elevators regularly so it couldn't be them either.

We went back to where we saw the Replica soldiers coming to kill us. They actually came from the next room… They somehow blew a huge hole on the wall and proceeded this way. The hole actually led to the stairs! That was awfully convenient…

The staircase was… filled with blood though. In fact there was still blood dripping from the walls. And even worse the blood was on the ceiling as well. There was a lot dripping from them too… By the time we got to B5, we saw a HUGE pile of corpses, some bodies of SFOD-D soldiers, ATC security, ATC employees, and even Replica soldiers. The pile was so big it could even compare the size of a book shelf. That would've somewhat explained the reason why this place was so messy…

We descended one more flight of stairs…

_We're almost there Richard… hang in there…_

As I was, the stairs suddenly broke as I stepped on it.

"DASH!!" Holiday shouted at me as I fell down. He tried to reach down and catch my hand, but with no luck. I fell down to what felt like a bottomless pit… I landed with a loud thud and everything became darker…

* * *

I suddenly woke up in a small room. I didn't have my rifle with me… this room was completely empty, with an exception of a door. I rushed to try and open it… but it was locked. I tried kicking it open but the door didn't budge one bit.

I felt hopeless… I rested my head against a wall… not knowing what to do.

That was until I heard footsteps coming towards the door. I got ready and walked towards it. I leaned right next to it in case anything entered. But that was when I remembered my rifle was gone… damn it…

While I was alert on the door, something disappeared from the corner… I couldn't quite get what it was so I decided to check it out. But I soon changed my mind… if it already disappeared, why take a look?

I turned back, and Alma was there, just three inches far from me.

I panicked a bit and leaned to the corner. She approached me… closer and closer…

"_I know who you are._"

She reached out her hand for my throat. As the hand got closer… she turned into the teenage Alma… the one I saw at Mrs. Freddericks' house. She was chocking me again… but not for long. She then threw me aside to the opposite wall, where I banged my back on it. I got back up and tried to defend myself this time… But she was lightening quick. She was right in front of me and hit my face. It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would…

But while I was still down she stepped on my chest. She was pressing it really hard. I tried to let go but she just kept squeezing it even harder as I kept struggling.

"Mother… please… let me do my part too…" I heard Fettel as he came in from the door too.

Alma said nothing, and she simply left the room, but not after glaring at me for a few seconds. I was at least thankful she didn't kill me… at least for now.

"I won't bother you about your past, brother… I'll let you figure that out… but I cannot say that my mother… no, our mother would let your friends have the same mercy she gave you just now." He said as blood drooled from his mouth.

"You and Alma killed those people… not to mention my comrades, and even YOUR SOLDIERS with your own hands…!" I yelled at him angrily.

I tried punching him in the face but he blocked it, then he kneed me in the stomach and kicked me in the face.

"I am a little confused… those people are not killed by me… neither are my soldiers… Besides… they were like this anyway when I was here. It's a disappointment… not just that my soldiers are dead, but you're a lot weaker than the brother I thought you were." Fettel kept thrash talking.

"You can't fool me…!!! Don't lie to me!! I'm NOT your brother whatsoever!! And who else would kill those people other than you or Alma??" I got extremely pissed off and blurted that out of frustration.

"You'll find out sooner." He said as he began to disappear.

* * *

I walked out of the room quickly only to realize there were those spirit thing again that I fought last mission… those that Alma sent. I didn't have a weapon so I definitely couldn't use my fists, but they rushed at me pretty quickly and I had to act quick.

But when they got really close, they disappeared.

However, my rifle was still there, laying on the floor. I picked it up and proceeded. I was back at the stairs… I had to climb quickly. I had to find out if Richard and Holiday were okay.

* * *

I climbed pretty fast and B6 was right there for me already… I went inside and quickly checked around the first room… equipments and bodies of ATC security guards were all that was there. But I was aware of what might have happened if I went in without watching my back. I kicked the next door open…

Holiday was there, and he aimed his weapon straight at me.

"You're alive… just as I thought." He grinned and playfully punched me in the arm again.

"Sir, have you found Richard?" I asked.

"No… I had to deal with THESE guys over here." He said as he directed me towards a stack of corpses of Replica soldiers.

"You killed them by yourself?? Wow…" I commented.

"Let's move on, shall we?" He said something quite obvious and kicked the door ahead of us. The next room had crates and a desk with a pistol on it.

We did, however, hear moaning from the next room…

I opened the door quietly and saw Richard, coming in from the other side of the room while clutching his arm full of blood.

"Richard!! Are you alright??" I rushed towards him as he sat down.

"Dash… g…get out of here… this laboratory… is a killing zone…" Richard moaned as he kept struggling to fight the pain.

"Richard…!!! You're gonna be okay, just hold on!!" I encouraged him to stay strong.

"The F.E.A.R. operative Jankowski… he's… more than just… an ordinary person… he's super strong… take my word for it." Richard added when he suddenly looked shocked, "DASH!!! BEHIND YOU!"

I looked behind me, and there was a bald F.E.A.R. operative, about to rifle butt me on the head. I rolled out of his way and he only hit a crate instead.

"YOU'RE Jankowski…?" I questioned.

"Spen Jankowski… yes. But I now serve Alma… she's the one that brought me back to life… in exchange for me to serve her and Fettel… and believe me, it's great this way." He replied.

"So YOU killed those Delta force soldiers… you… YOU SON OF A BITCH!!"

I knew I wasn't supposed to say that to an adult, but at times like this I lost my temper.

"Heh… Dash Parker… so now you're the F.E.A.R. Point Man huh? Well… when you see the F.E.A.R. Point Man someday, tell him to go to hell… the Point Man was the one who killed Fettel… and Alma would not forgive him for that. Besides, I never liked him myself anyway." Jankowski snapped as he pointed his submachine gun at me.

"Serving Alma for her mad quest for revenge is something bad, but hating the Point Man and killing our own comrades is despicable you bastard!" I angrily replied to his remark.

Holiday walked in too… he must have been checking what exactly would've been in that room with crates… there may have been something important.

"Jankowski… long time no see." Holiday sarcastically greeted.

"Hmph… well, if it isn't Holiday AKA my patrol partner from SFOD-D before I was transferred to F.E.A.R." Jankowski grinned and aimed his weapon at Holiday.

"I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, but if you insist, have it your way." Holiday replied and raised his weapon too.

I couldn't kill Jankowski… or let Holiday die. I had to do something about this… he may have been a total bastard doing all this, but if Alma was behind him killing other people then he must be stopped.

**To be continued…**

**_A weird chapter but more or less… by the way… I saved this when it was my BIRTHDAY! But I had a party and stuff so I couldn't submit it that day. But oh wells, that's that. R&R!_**


	14. Never Ending Escape

**_Here's the next chapter! If you're wondering what I got for your birthdays (stalkers might want to know this for sure), they're Sonic Riders, Queen's News of the World album, Michael Jackson's Bad album, and an iTunes gift card. Anyways, a rough work here indeed, but a RUSHED work... let's add that._**

**Chapter 14: Never ending escape**

Holiday and Jankowski still had their weapons raised, pointing at each other. They definitely didn't look like they were not hesitating to fire at each other despite them being friends long time ago. I had to stop them from fighting somehow...

Taking action, I charged straight an Jankowski. I was trying to tackle him, but he effortlessly swatted me away. But it was a lot more painful than I thought. It sent me flying to the ceiling, then made me land on a crate, smashing it into several pieces. When I tried getting back up, he stepped on my shoulder and pointed his gun at me.

"You can try as much as you like... it's still and will always be futile." He smirked and kicked me, making me slide all the way to the opposite wall. I got back up as pain drove all over me... I clutched my arm and could barely keep my knees straight...

However, Richard also took a piece of the action. While he was still down he shot his shotgun an Jankowski. However that shotgun blast seemed like a paper cut to him as he didn't even flinch. Maybe he just felt something...

"Heh... you kids got guts."

He attempted to hit Richard as well, but he rolled out of the way quickly but also dropped his shotgun too. Seeing this I quickly fired my assault rifle on him. Richard's punches for sure wouldn't do anything if his shotgun shells had no effect. My rounds wouldn't do any good either, but getting Richard hurt would make this situation MUCH worse.

He turned his attention towards me too.

"I think this is what you wanted for your birthday." He laughed as he charged at me. I barely dodged as I jumped out of his way. Richard ran for his weapon but when he tried a crate fell down from above somehow, and hit him, which made him unconscious.

"Dash!! Move out of the way, quick!!" Holiday ordered and I obeyed as I got behind him, picking Richard up on the way too. He threw a grenade at Jankowski and as it touched the ground it detonated.

"This way, quick!!" Holiday shouted and I followed him out of this room. We went to about five rooms ahead, and sat down, catching our breath and resting... Richard was unconscious and lost his weapon, I was brutally injured by Jankowski and Holiday was still able to fight... but he didn't have the ability to slow down time like I did... otherwise he would've killed those soldiers in seconds. This situation was getting way too tense.

"This is a fine mess we're in..." I mumbled grumpily.

"Yeah... never thought we'd be in missions like this, eh?" Holiday replied as he wiped the sweat off his face.

"At least we're still alive... I had to even run with all these wounds all over me." I complained as I clutched my leg.

"That's what real soldiers are for man, we fight even if we're hurt or if our mama doesn't give us our snacks." He joked.

Suddenly I saw a door automatically opening by itself.

"Guess this ain't over yet... I got your back." Holiday groaned as he got up and so did I... my wounds were recovering a little.

I entered the room and Holiday also followed me. We were in a laboratory... capsules and computers were everywhere. Some of the capsules were cracked open, so there were probably test subjects that escaped. We also saw two bodies of SFOD-D soldiers here... but how did they get in here? With all those soldiers and supernatural creatures in this place, and not to mention other SFOD-D bodies in the areas I was before...

Suddenly one of their heads got cut off from their tarso. It rolled all over the place. That's when we also heard a gunshot from another room.

"Dash, go in and investigate that gunfire and report back to me ASAP." Holiday ordered and I went in, readying my assault rifle. I kicked the door open and went in...

There was a SFOD-D soldier... he was still alive...

"H... help... me..."

However those were his last words as he was dragged up to the vent on the ceiling and he was torn to pieces by the fan there. His torn flesh dropped down to the floor, and blood splattered the entire room.

Although what was true was how did he get here...? His group with the SFOD-D soldiers we saw in the previous room died in that room... How did he enter this room if they died there?

Without continuously asking myself questions mentally, I went back to report back to Holiday what I saw. He had to know this... He was an SFOD-D soldier from what I heard. When I came back though, he was gone!! Where the hell did he go? He for sure wasn't dead because if he was blood would've been in this room... the only blood was around SFOD-D soldiers' bodies... No where further than that.

I went back to see if Richard was okay then. He was still there... that was a relief. Not to mention, by the time I got there he started waking up. I was relieved that he was okay. But the problem was... he didn't have any weapons with him.

"Thank god you're okay... Think you're gonna make it?" I asked as he stood up.

"Yeah... thanks man." He replied confidently.

"But how are you gonna defend yourself? You don't have any weapon!" I warned.

"Oh no worries... I always have back up with me." He smirked as he got out a pistol. He also had a combat knife too. At least he was thoughtful in times like this... thinking ahead.

"Holiday just disappeared... we have to go look for him." I explained him of the situation.

"Hell yeah!! We have to blow this place up, and without him it's impossible." Richard exclaimed and we ran off to the previous rooms. I really wondered where he got all this energy from.

We continued on to search for Holiday. There were things that stopped us... A squad of Replica soldiers just came into this room.

"Come on, you test tube freaks!!" I challenged as soon as I fired my assault rifle. I only managed to bring one down while Richard shot down two with his pistol. When I kept firing, I managed to down one but I realized I was out of ammo... Shit! That was my last clip!! I had to pick up some ammo from those Replica soldiers... but with a whole squadron over there, running up there and getting ammo would mean suicide.

"Dash, use this!" Richard exclaimed as he picked up a pistol he saw on a table nearby. He passed it to me and I caught it.

"Thanks!" And the two of us continued shooting at them. The pistol was actually pretty useful as it was more accurate than the assault rifle. It had no recoil either so I didn't have to keep adjust my aim. I had to give Richard a credit. This made the job a bit easier.

There were still about five remaining. We kept shooting as much as we could. We leaned on a nearby corner and we picked off each of them one by one, but that was hard because they kept moving around, which was pretty hard to shoot. But of course, me able to slow time down was making this a little bit easier.

I managed to bring one down and Richard killed the other one. However three of them still remained... until a heavy armour soldier came. He had a rather very huge gun with him and was also carrying a shield with his other hand.

"What the hell is that?" Richard wondered, but his question was answered as the soldier began firing. It fired so quickly that there was barely any kind of pause between each rounds. We took cover but that wouldn't do any good... We heard him come closer and closer... I doubted that such a heavily armoured soldier would be able to take damage from our pistols...

"Shit... Richard, I'm gonna go on ahead and fight that guy... you stay here." I suggested.

"Dash, are you insane?? That thing's gonna rip you to shreds! You can't possibly be thinking of actually going up and fighting him!" Richard warned me.

"Oh no worries... I know what I'm doing." I replied as I tossed a grenade backwards. The explosion caught the soldier and I immediately ran while there was still dust. The other Replicas were blinded and I took that chance to get out my camping knife and stabbed one of them in the head with it.

"What the hell...?" The other soldiers noticed the screaming from the now dead soldier as I came out from the dust. They could see me but before they could fire I jumped and kicked one of them in the head. It wasn't down but obviously I landed on his stomach and stabbed my knife through his chest. After that I picked up my knife and threw it at the last remaining soldier.

However, the dust was gone after my knife stabbing. The last heavily armoured soldier was still there, standing tall. I quickly picked up one of the weapons that the Replica soldiers dropped. I picked up a very strange weapon... I had no idea what it was but I decided to give it a shot.

When I pulled the trigger it shot a laser beam at him. The soldier seemed to be blinded as I continuously fired. But haplessly the laser overheated and I couldn't use it anymore. I had to pick something else... I hoped that the laser managed to do a number on that thing.

The next weapon I picked up was that same thing I saw during the last mission... the canon. I picked it up and forgot about how heavy this thing was. I aimed it straight at the soldier's head and fired. However it was still standing, and it began firing it's weapon. It didn't hurt me one bit as I quickly began using my reflex time. Then I avoided the bullets and continuously blasted my canon at the soldier.

More haplessly, my reflexes were running low and the canon said it was also short on rounds. And that soldier was still alive. But he now had lots of scratches and bruises around him.

I fired my last rounds at him but he didn't even die yet! I clicked on the canon but it was no use... the soldier then approached me as I backed away.

However, Richard shot it with his pistol. The soldier gained his attention on him and turned around.

"Dash, NOW!! I'll distract this thing!!" Richard yelled as he kept shooting as he was sidestepping to avoid getting hit. I quickly looked around and saw a shotgun nearby. I made a mad dash for it and picked it up, instantly cocking it, and shot at the soldier's face. He made a very loud static noise and dropped both his shield and weapon.

"That was one hell of a battle... don't ya think?" I said as I caught my breath. I then gave the shotgun to Richard...

"Here, take this." I said to him as I handed him the shotgun.

"You sure? You picked it up..."

"Hey, it's your signature weapon... You're much better with this thing than me." I laughed a little bit.

"...Thanks then. I'll take it." Richard thanked and I nodded in response. Then I picked up some assault rifle rounds that the Replica soldiers had. It was time to knock this taco stand and get the hell out of here.

We got to where the heavy armoured soldier came in and went in there... only to find a huge computer lab in there. But we weren't alone...

There was Jankowski.

"You kids sure get out of that much trouble pretty easily." He teased as he threw his weapon at Richard. It hit him with such a strong force that it sent him flying to the wall nearby."

"Richard!!" I called but Jankowski stopped me, "Heh... you're about to join him soon after I kill him... better stay where you are."

Jankowski suddenly collapsed down the floor, and behind him was Alma. She approached me and said, "_He's no longer a use to me..._"

Alma stretched her arms around and she disappeared as she latched on to me. I could barely move! What the hell was she doing?? I felt dizzy... I clutched my head.

* * *

"**_YOU HAVE ALWAYS BELONGED TO ME... COME BACK... TO ME!!!_**" She shouted and her voice echoed.

I knew what she was doing... she was trying to take control over me! Like what she did to Jankowski! I tried to resist her control, but she was too strong for resistance... I kept struggling...

Suddenly another man's voice was heard... And I also heard a shotgun blast too.

"Run away from her... she can't control you now! Go!!"

* * *

I never heard his voice was, but my mind seemed to be clearer for now... I was no longer dizzy and saw Alma's body laying on the floor... she wasn't dead for sure. She was just unconscious... but she soon disappeared. I wondered if she was dead or just sleeping... Either way that was a close call for her to get a hold of my control like that.

That was when I also heard Holiday's voice too...

"Dash!! There you are, I've been looking for you!" He exclaimed as he caught up with me.

"Sir, that's MY line... me and Richard went through this much trouble to find you!! You disappeared all of a sudden!" I complained.

"Ha ha... yes yes... but we have a more important objective to finish... there are no survivors and Alma is still around... we better blow this whole place up." Holiday replied with a little bit of laughter.

"How are we gonna do that...? It's not like we have super bombs to blow this whole laboratory to pieces..." I asked.

"Heh... in case ya didn't know, the place you're in is the key."

Holiday moved to a nearby computer, and it was super huge! He typed away on the keyboards and was setting many things up in the computer from what I saw...

By the time Holiday was starting to type, Jankowski was getting back up...

"Ugh... where the hell..." He muttered.

"Sir? Are you okay?" I asked as I turned to his direction.

"Huh...? Oh right... You must be Dash... I saw you a while ago... that little bitch was doing something with my mind... she was messing with it." He yawned and got up.

"Heh... surprised to see you still alive." Holiday said, though he was still busy typing.

"Holiday...! What are ya doing there?" He questioned as he took his SMG from the floor.

"Blowing this place to hell because nothing else to do here when freaky shit happens." Holiday replied, still rather busy typing.

Richard also got up too...

"Oh man... my head's killing me..." He mumbled as he got up and picked up his shotgun.

"How you feeling Richard?" I patted his back and brought up a grin.

"Like a million bucks..." He groaned sarcastically.

* * *

The alarm rang, and the PA said, "WARNING... SELF DESTRUCTION SEQUENCE IS IMMINENT... 7 MINUTES UNTIL DETONATION."

"It's all set... now let's get the hell out of here!!" Holiday ordered all of us as we ran out of the room.

We tried using the elevators, but we just remembered they were disabled, so using the stairs was our only choice. But at only eight minutes climbing stairs was definitely not a good idea... but at least we did something called running.

We were at B2 now... and we heard some Replica soldiers from the stairs below...

"Get those motherfuckers! NOW!" One of them yelled.

"Shit...! We were so close...!!!" Jankowski cursed.

I looked around at the situation... the PA just said, "three minutes until detonation..." We didn't have much time, and the three of them fighting would waste time and they would only die here...

"I'll take care of them... Everyone, please, get in contact and request a helicopter here right now!!" I requested as I aimed my assault rifle at the coming soldiers.

"Dash, don't play nice guy all the time...! We don't have time for this!!" Holiday scolded.

"Sir, if we all fight, we're only going to be wasting time... please hurry!!" I cried.

Holiday sighed, then added, "All right Dash... Clean 'em up."

I ran back down as the others went up. Richard even said, "You better make it back alive!!"

The Replica soldiers spotted me. They had their rifles up, ready to fire. But of course, they were no match for someone who has a reflex hundred times faster than theirs. I could do this...

I opened fire at the soldiers at the front first because the bullets would probably reach me faster. I then lowered my eyes to show them what I was truly made of... definitely something what they weren't! I side stepped consistently as the bullets showered in every direction. Not a single one hit me, and I gave them back a favour by showering my own bullets at them. My reflex time suddenly died down, so I got back to the actual time again... and there were only two left by that time. I took out a grenade and threw it at them, and the grenade sent them flying and tearing them into pieces in the process.

I climbed back up as quickly as I could... I couldn't believe I only had one minute left because the PA just announced another warning that only one minute remained... I had to hurry. No time to waste now!!

* * *

When I finished climbing the stairs of B1, the PA announced that the self destruction would initiate in thirty seconds!! I made for the lobby quickly... the stairs was long but I can make it, I was sure!

* * *

The lobby was on my sight and the exit was there... I quickly ran for it...

I went outside and saw the Black Helicopter!! I quickly dashed for it but they left me already...!! They were flying ahead! What the hell were they doing???

"**STOP!! PLEASE!!**" I screamed and fired my weapon to get their attention, but they couldn't hear me and the helicopter soared through the sky... I watched them go.

"**NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!**"

However, it was finished for me... I was a goner... I heard it...

"Self destruct sequence, INITAITE" The PA from the lab said.

I saw the lab beginning to collapse, and it exploded, and I didn't have time to run away from it. I gave in, and the explosion got me... I was flung all the way from the huge explosion to a nearby tree, and hit me on the back...

"No... this can't be happening... I... have to go back... family... friends... K...Katie..."

I saw the helicopter flying ahead. Blackhawk... please... save me...

I fell down... and gave into the darkness...

**TO BE CONTINUED...**

**_Okay, definitely not the best chapter, but it was a rushed work... the thing is I'm very busy actually even in spring break so I have almost no time to update again. Therefore, before "I can't update" timeline comes, I had to finish this chapter in a rush. So no time for spelling errors or grammar... Sorry if this chapter disappointed you. And by the way, it's NOT the end. No worries._**


	15. The Deepening Nightmare

_**The long waited cliff-hanger!**_

**Chapter 15: Deepening Nightmare**

Every part of my body ached... I could barely move and the only thing I felt was pain... nothing else. Just that. I couldn't feel any sadder than this... my life was just in ruins... I was practically doomed.

That's when it hit me. When I finally opened my eyes and got to my senses, I found myself lying on a bed. My arms had bandages and my face did too... at least I could feel them. Some parts of the bandage were filled with red... obviously I was bleeding a lot... but I hope I didn't lose too much... how else would I be able to get home?

I saw Alma out the window. But she seemed to be walking away instead of walking towards me. She either didn't know I was here or that she was just going somewhere else, plotting something... god knows what she might do. But I had to follow her just in case...

I tried getting off of my bed but only to realize I started aching everywhere... I fell down on the floor, struggling to get up.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" I heard a voice.

I looked up and saw a long red haired, tall, and a striking looking woman. She was holding a tray too...

"I...I..." I stuttered, but couldn't speak because of the pain.

"Look, you need to rest... please. Go back to bed. You'll only hurt yourself." She said.

I nodded and crawled back to my bed... obviously I couldn't stand up and walk with all this pain I had. I even had so much pain that I even had trouble getting on bed... it hurt that much. But I still managed get back on without humiliating myself that much.

"Uh... How long was I out...? And where am I...?" I wondered, clutching my head as I laid back down.

"You were out for the whole evening... I made you a supper. Here's some soup." She replied as she handed me the tray. I began eating the soup... which wasn't that bad.

"Thanks... so like I asked earlier... where am I?" I thanked as I kept eating.

"A cabin." The woman joked, then laughed and added, "this is Genevieve Aristide's cabin... she booked shelter here for research until your team blew the laboratory up. I'm just her personal assistant... You can call me Janet."

"I see... thanks Janet... for helping me out here."

I finished my soup pretty quickly as I got hungry as I haven't eaten because of the blasted mission. But I was pondering about Genevieve Aristide... like Ms. Kwon said, the president of ATC. Maybe she might give me some answers behind the mess I'm going through.

"Thank you so much...! That was great!" I thanked as I handed the tray back to Janet.

"You're welcome! Just don't try to get off the bed again... or I WILL tie you up there!" Janet teased as I laughed a little bit too.

I laid back down, resting as much as I could without trying to think too much. That would hurt me a lot more... just trying to think so much. But these incidents were just hard not to think about... they were so hard to put down in my head. What does Alma mean by saying that I belong to her? What was her intention with me anyway...?

Just starting to think about that seemed to trigger someone opening the door... Janet went in front to greet someone...

"Mr. Hives? What brings you here?" She questioned the newcomer.

"I'm here to see that kid... Ms. Aristide recently told me he would be here." A man's voice answered. The voice grew slightly louder as he came into the room I was in. He looked at me.

"So you're the F.E.A.R. team member that just destroyed our laboratory... and killed those damn Replicas." He stated, obviously things that I knew. Well he was wrong about thing that it was Holiday that destroyed the lab, not me.

"W...well... yes sir..." I stuttered, obviously because of the pain.

"Heh... like the first prototype. He always did things that were just way too dangerous for normal people. Impressed that you could do it yourself kid." He smirked.

What was true about this man was that he acted like he knew me, not like a person that he met for the first time... I never knew this guy! Who the hell was he?

"Um... excuse me? Not trying to be rude... but who are you?" I asked.

"Heh... so he doesn't remember... of course, it's been years." He sighed, then added, "Name's Iain Hives."

That was the first time I ever heard that name. But he somehow knows ME. Hope he isn't some stalker...

"I... see. Well, nice to meet you Mr. Hives." I answered as pain just kept flowing through my body as I tried to get up and handshake. Man, this sucked...

"Haha... not even Norton Mapes could have done that at that condition... even a simple handshake!" He laughed. He must have been referring to an ATC employee or whatever...

Just then I heard clicks on the door where Hives came from. This time a woman came in...

* * *

All of a sudden I had images in my head... I began visualizing something...

"The project was a success... what should we name him?" I heard a woman's voice.

"I don't know... Dash, maybe?" A VERY familiar voice of a man just got into my head...

* * *

That man... from that vision... his voice... it sounded too familiar for some reason... But if I knew him, then who was he? He sure didn't sound like Hives or anyone else.

That woman came in and noticed me, and smiled at me.

"So we meet at last..." She said, looking surprised and approached me, "Dash Parker."

"Y...you know my name? How...?" I asked her, but not moving much as pain just kept me from doing anything.

"It's simple yet complicated... There are many things that should be explained if you must know." She replied, leaving me a little confused.

"Really... please. It's something I've got to know about..." I sighed... remembering that my deadline was near.

"Well... if you must, there is something of mine you should read. But obviously you're in no condition to even lift a finger." She laughed, then her eyes went a little bigger, "My name is Genevieve Aristide... I read some ATC reports that you helped in assassinating the Replica soldiers coming into our office building..."

"As much as you find it heroic... I find it quite messed up maim. You see, my family doesn't even know about it." I groaned as I even thought of the hell that would ensue if they found out... not to mention that I can't come home now because F.E.A.R. team just HAD to leave me here in this god damn island!

Ms. Aristide seemed shocked, but that should come to no surprise... she should be.

"Well... shouldn't you be telling them of what heroic things you've done? Like saving lots of employees from an office building like that?"

"Well... they'd kill me if I just entered a paranormal activity fighting squad without their permission... the thing is... I thought F.E.A.R. would help me find some answers of what happened lately..." I explained quite briefly.

"I'll take a guess," Ms. Aristide interrupted me as I tried to say something; "a girl named Alma is giving you plenty of trouble. Am I correct?"

"Y...yes!" I exclaimed.

When I answered, Mr. Hives looked at his watch... "Uh... if you'll excuse me... gotta get going. **They're** calling me." He interrupted as he made a few eye and mouth motions at Ms. Aristide, which she replied too very quietly, with a few nods. That was rather strange... did they hold secrets or something?

After he left, Ms. Aristide looked back at me.

"Alma was a severely troubled child... going through experiments and was treated with several injections and medications when she was only six... nowadays we fear and regret our actions we have done towards her." She sighed, showing a little traces of guilt.

"Well... there's one question... why does she keep saying I'm her son? Last time I remember she just kept telling me that I belonged to her." I just asked the one question that I couldn't let go in my head, hoping she would know the answer.

"Well... that..." Ms. Aristide stopped, looking quite hesitant to tell me, "that's something I'll tell you after... in some time."

I groaned. I've been asking that same damn question, especially to myself, over and over and why the hell wouldn't anyone tell me the answer? I mean I was just born from a woman's womb, AKA my mother... is that something so difficult to tell me about?

"You HAVE to tell me... please. Alma said that if I don't find out anything about my past, then she would kill me in seven days, and three of those days have passed... and tomorrow would be my fourth!" I explained, with many hints of impatience.

"I should tell you tomorrow... when you feel better." She replied, closing her eyes. Maybe she was tired too... I mean it was in the middle of the night after all. I sighed, nothing else to do, but I couldn't do anything about it either. I was too tired to listen to anything anyway...

I closed my eyes and let my heart decide... will I know the truth before my eternal rest is finally cast by the monster that claimed that she was my mother...?

* * *

_Are you running...? Are you still running...?_

I heard that voice... it was Alma again. She was following me and I had no weapons with me at all. All I could do was run. But that didn't work out well as I only ran into a pair of double doors. I tried to push it open but it wouldn't open! I was trapped in a nightmare again...

However, through the glasses I saw a woman... and a doctor. He was holding a baby... but after that Alma was behind him and when she got close to him the doctor's blood splattered everywhere.

As I turned around Alma was already about three seven centimetres close to me. Without a weapon, all I could do was just brace myself...

She tried to reach out for me but after that all turned white briefly and she... disappeared! Was she attempting to pull something else this time?

I did, however, hear a voice behind me. I spun around and saw an old man... it was the same room, but this time no one was in there. Nobody except an eldery man... he was wearing glasses.

"You will be a god among men." He seemed to be whispering... but his voice echoed. He was also carrying the same baby from earlier.

* * *

After a quick flash, the door finally opened. There were hospital equipments everywhere, and the room was filled with blood. In the corner, a doctor was standing, shivering. I approached and pat him on the shoulder...

"Uh... excuse me... sir?" I whispered.

He tried to turn his face around but all of a sudden a huge knife stabbed through his face from the back and he felled on the floor, bleeding like crazy! I backed away from the corpse only to see Fettel again...

"You still don't know do you...? What you are... why you are here." He said as he seemed to take pauses in some words he said.

He took the knife out from the doctor's face and stared at me, "What's your given name? Where were you born? You have no history." Fettel grinned as he was ready to throw the dagger at me. I said nothing... what this crazed man could do is a complete mystery to me.

"She cannot see in your mind but perhaps you can see into hers. A life of awakening from one another... to find yourself deep in another."

His eyes widened and he threw his dagger at me. I rolled sideways to dodge it but that only seemed like a distraction to me. He put his foot on my chest and he opened his bloody mouth wide.

"Hey!! No stop, NO!!" I screamed, but he did nothing. His mouth came closer to my neck and he was close to nibbling it...

* * *

However, there was another flash and Fettel was gone, but I also saw my corpse... eaten up alive. But it was me... what just happened? I remember dying and I'm still alive... What was going on?

My corpse suddenly got torn to several pieces as a huge gate closed on top of it.

"Do you see your fate now if you do not find out any sooner?" Fettel came closer to me as he came out of nowhere, "Because I only want mother to feel happy again after I bring you back to her... her body is still alive... but her soul is now gone. But soon you'll have a choice to make... she may still walk on this planet as Alma... and after those days pass, she may kill you if she wishes... so what will you do? Would you die now or sooner?"

What the hell was he talking about? Did he join Alma's fun of saying that I was her son thing? I am NOT her son!! I don't know if I look like him, but I am not... and I will prove this one day by killing them... or whatever it takes to stop them.

Fettel disappeared...

* * *

I opened my eyes all of a sudden. I realized... it was morning already! Now it was day 4... and I wonder what my parents would say about this...

"I see you've awakened." I heard Ms. Aristide from the corner.

"Ms. Aristide! Please tell me everything now! It's something I MUST know!!" I exaggerated a bit but at times like this anybody would do so.

"Well... I can't explain everything to you but... my old journal may give you some answers." She sighed as she looked at her bookshelf, then got a small book out. She handed it to me and I opened it and started reading... hopefully there may be some answers to this god damn mystery.

**To be continued...**

**_Yep, Dash got the diary Aristide had!! Will this tell Dash something? Only god and I as the author know... and by the way, yes those things Fettel said are from the game... hey, if you think about it, he probably would've said the same thing he did to the Point man to Dash anyway, so yeah... Anyways... that's that. It's been a stressful week for me but I managed to go through it. Stress as in homework and tests, breaking up with my girlfriend, having a few arguments with a friend of mine, overall it's just a really hard week for me. But oh well, please R&R!_**


	16. The Truth is Revealed

_**This chapter**__** is short (to be honest it's my third shortest) but I made it like this because it's the part when the plot develops the most. It's pretty hard to make this chapter lengthy, but putting what would happen in the next chapter would make this chapter WAYYY too long... it might take you about an hour to read in total. So I shortened this chapter a lot. As you can see, I love to have readers wondering what will happen next and deepening the story's mystery more. This episode may have the answer to most of the riddles many of you have been waiting for. BUT NOT all the mysteries in this story are solved yet, even if this chapter gives away some answers. Anyways, Dash's past is revealed here...**_

**Chapter 16: The Truth is Revealed**

I read Ms. Aristide's journal... it was written like this.

* * *

**April 26****th****, 1988**

_William has been talking about the new project lately. He's been holding on to that idea he was talking about ever since he copied a sample of the first prototype's DNA. He wouldn't even tell me one thing of what his intentions are... but I guess I'll have to wait to see his actions towards this mystery._

**April 30****th****, 1988**

_Harlan attempted to fire William today, unless he would tell the old man what he would do with the prototype's DNA. But the worst part is that William even tried to kill him... I never knew he even had a gun with him. Is this thing something so cherishing to William that if even one person asks him what the hell he's doing he would kill them?_

**May 2****nd****, 1988**

_I found Eric, straining today. He told me a few things about what William would be doing... cloning or something like that. But before he could finish what he was about to tell me, someone from behind shot him. Hopefully it wasn'__t William who did that._

**October 20****th****, 1988**

_So it makes sense now. What Eric has been telling me was that William was trying to create a clone of the first prototype. But it's strange... how could he keep a DNA sample for so long? One thing I remember for sure is that the first prototype was born in January __24__th__, 1977. It's been eleven years already, and he managed to store something like that for so long. Impressive._

**November 5****th****, 1988**

_William's son Tim__ and his daughter came to look at his father's project today, apparently for an interview for the school paper Tim's girl had to write. I don't remember how old he is, but I doubt that he wouldn't understand anything his father tells him to, no matter what age he is._

**November 9****th****, 1988**

_I met the first prototype today! It was such a long time since I saw him. The last time was around ten years ago or so. But I'm impressed by his strength. He stood about 187 cm tall from what I remember. Not to mention growth in muscles. He doesn't seem to recognize me, but I didn't want to make myself look like a stranger to him. I just pretended I met him the first time too._

**December 12****th****, 1988**

_William seemed to be in a dilemma. When I asked him wh__at was wrong, he claimed that Harlan had ordered him to cancel his project. However, he doesn't seem to want to cancel that easily. What was his intention of cloning the first prototype anyway?_

**December 25****th****, 1998**

_It's Christmas time, but I'm still worried about the incident that happened recently. I considered inviting William to my Christmas party, but... I decided not to. He may still be working on that._

**December 27****th****, 1988**

_William and I held a secret... He said he would cancel the project in front of Harlan, but would work on it privately, whenever he wants to. So he basically meant he wanted to hide the project... Or conceal it.__ In other words, working on this as a SIDE project... but I wonder how he would handle this crisis if the next assignment would be more catastrophic._

**January 31****st****, 1989**

_William's project finally finished. He completed cloning the first prototype. He showed the clone to me and said he would name him Dash... I'd say it's a creative name... and random. But Harlan soon discovered about it this evening. He cursed at William a bit and shot him in the stomach. I said I had nothing to do with this... which was true in a way. But he dragged me into his office and blamed me for not reporting__ this. But my question is why was he so mad about this?_

_And it's funny too... the clone was born a week after the first prototype was born in terms of month and day._

**February 9****th****, 1989**

_William's son Tim decided to take care of Dash. He found out about this and determined to keep him safe. But he also took some of William's notes he found on the lab. God knows what Tim might do with those...

* * *

_

I finished reading the most important parts... but I read it over and over. I couldn't believe my eyes... my grandfather... William Parker... was an ATC scientist? But why the hell did nobody in my family tell me? And even worse I was... the clone of the F.E.A.R. Point Man??? WHAT?? That doesn't even make sense!! If I was then why didn't anyone tell me??

This had to be a nightmare... right? My family... make that the people I've been living with this entire time... they never told me the honest truth about my past all this long...? Just what the hell is wrong with everybody?

Even worse... if what Ms. Kwon told me is true... about the first prototype being Alma's son... does that mean that she is really my actual mother?

"W...why... why did they not..." I muttered. I couldn't do anything else but shed tears. They dripped down to the journal itself...

"Dash... I knew this might happen... that's why I hesitated to tell you everything." Ms. Aristide consoled me as much as she could.

"I...I understand..." I sobbed.

But that explained one thing... about why Alma kept saying that I was her son. And another thing... I found out about my past, so my curse was broken. I dried those tears and couldn't let this past get to me any longer. But there was still one objective for me left to do. If the Point Man is still out there... is still alive... I must tell him... it is my destiny now to meet him.

"Ms. Aristide... the first prototype... do you know what happened to him?" I asked.

"No, I don't... and I pray for his safety." She replied with a sigh.

"Alright then... but first... I better get back home. I doubt the point man is on this island..." I decided.

"Before you DO go... there's a small town over there. Some people did say that they saw a person with superhuman reflexes... and wore a F.E.A.R. armour. But that's all I heard... I never actually saw him." She informed me. I even saw a newspaper article nearby talking about a man who saved a supermarket worker while he fell down the building by accident, who was falling down at an alarming speed.

So what she was saying was... the F.E.A.R. Point Man WAS here! But how come the F.E.A.R. team never told me about where the Point Man's last mission was? And why did they abandon him here?

"Okay, I'm going to go there and find him... There is NO way I'm leaving him here!" I determined, having no intention to go back home without finding him.

"But Dash... I doubt it's safe to go alone. God knows if the Point Man is still alive, but if there weren't any news of him from anybody yet, it's obvious that something happened to him... and Dash, you're still injured. You shouldn't move too much."

She made a good point. But still, nothing would stop me now.

"Ms. Aristide, I'll be fine. Trust me... I'll come back alive for sure." I promised as I nodded.

But she did make a good point in the "still injured part". At least I felt a little better than yesterday. It may be risky going alone with wounds, but I must know what in the world could have happened to the point man.

"If you truly believe in yourself, then I won't stop you." Ms. Aristide sighed, obviously showing signs of doubt. I gave her thumbs up and grabbed my assault rifle that was placed near the bookshelf. Then I headed outside... I was now alone in the fight, without anyone helping me. Not a F.E.A.R. team member or a SFOD-D soldier. It was just me to find the missing beloved comrade that has been greatly missed by others.

I walked outside, with my weapon slung on my back. It was raining as of now but that wouldn't stop me either. I hurriedly went off... Nothing will ever get in my way. Not a Replica soldier, Fettel or Alma! The F.E.A.R. Point Man, the first prototype... or should I say possibly my true brother... he better stay alive now because I'm coming for him!

**To be continued...**

_**Another tough week... XD. Meh, I'll be fine though. And there's the truth of Dash's past. And yes, Tim was Dash's father, and William, like mentioned above, is his grandfather. I don't**__** know if you'll like it or not, but... if you didn't like it, the last thing I want to see are things like "WHAT THE HELL KIND OF STORY IS THIS? THIS KIND OF PAST SUCKED". Please do NOT say anything like that. Otherwise you'll be permanently blocked from reviewing my stories. If you didn't like it, just don't say anything about it. Also, do NOT criticize of the short length of this chapter, I already mentioned the reason above. If you still do, consequences will not be pleasing, especially from ME! MUHAHAHAHA! Seriously, appreciated if you don't.**_


	17. Relocated

_**I kind of put this chapter into different chunks of chapters now. I thought of, "this chapter should be next, this chapter should be going here..." and etc. Anyways, here we are again, joining Dash in his journey to find the Point Man!**_

**Chapter 17: ****Relocated**

I walked through a forest, wondering if the Point Man would be anywhere. If the newspaper article I saw earlier was true that he was here, saving a life on his way to his mission, then he I couldn't be too close! He had to be alive too... if he managed to survive Alma and Fettel all along, I think he would still be alive. No doubt about that.

While I was walking I noticed clips of ammo scattered around, as well as bullets on the ground. But there weren't any blood either. Someone must have liked wasting bullets for no reason... unless... if it was Alma who hallucinated a person into shooting things. That couldn't be good... it already meant that she was nearby. I stayed ready in case if she was going to attack or for any surprises. I can't risk or take any chances now.

For some reason though I thought this was just going to get worse. When you're in a cave, and you're sure some freaky little girl is following you or watching your every move, it gives you the creeps. It's just same kind of situation I'm in right now, and I want to be out of it now!

As if my thoughts summoned it, a huge boulder started rolling down towards me. I saw just in time to jump sideways. But man was I wrong to do that, my exit was blocked. How the hell was I suppose to get out now?

If Alma was the one who did this, I'd strangle her if I could already.

I shook the thoughts out of my mind for now and continued my investigation around the cave. There had to be an exit somewhere... No caves have less than two exits. There's always another way out.

But my big brain just kept bringing me bad omens. As I kept walking, the ground suddenly crumpled and I fell down to the lower level. I screamed a little bit but managed to land safely. But still, the level above was too high for me to reach, so I couldn't climb back up. If the exit was there, I would have gotten extremely angry.

Alma just had to make my life harder in many ways. I guess it doesn't matter what I would do for her to stop torturing her. I found out about my true self and found out that Alma is my mother after all. But even then she wouldn't leave me alone! Maybe she just meant as in just not killing me, but never meant to stop bothering me like this.

I kept walking and explored the cave. Just nothing but strange cravings on the wall... buy who would've put them on here? I found the cave a little distracting because on the walls there were images of humans being tortured. What would that mean though...? Would this mean I'm in a lot of trouble?

I continued investigating, but cautious of what might happen as well too. I had to watch my back every few minutes or so in case any paranormal beings, especially Alma, would sneak up on me. Everything was clear for now, but being naive and walking ahead would simply lead to eternal rest for me.

As I kept walking there were skeletons on the ground. They had bloodstained SFOD-D armours on them as well as several weapons near them. I could probably guess that the SFOD-D soldiers were investigating here too, but a bit long time ago.

There was something near one of the bodies... I checked it out, and it was the soldier's head cam recorder. I took off his helmet and saw a portable video player in the pocket. It didn't have that much battery left but I guess it would do. But it told me one thing. They were here not too long ago either... at least a day or two earlier than I did.

I pushed play and the video began playing. The video length shown at the bottom right corner of the screen said, "0:00 / 0:20"... only 20 seconds of video... this meant that the SFOD-D soldiers were killed by Alma for sure. I mean at least it would a little longer than just 20 seconds to kill them...

* * *

**October 16****th****, 2005 10:21:56 Begin Video Playback**

**Corporal Steve Johns**

A F.E.A.R. Operative was with two SFOD-D soldiers, excluding the one recording the video at the time.

"I'm going ahead. Secure this area... we don't know when an enemy will strike." He ordered as the other SFOD-D soldiers nodded and readied their weapons. They watched the F.E.A.R. Operative leave and got back to looking around their surroundings.

"Knock knock..." One of them began.

"Shut the fuck up..." The other answered.

Suddenly their surroundings became extremely dark, and everything were barely seen by anyone. The soldiers expressed their worries in many ways, but the two soon made bloody coughs and screams, and eventually died. The recorder looked at his two companions, bloodstained. However, he looked back at the direction and saw Paxton Fettel walking towards his way...

"Shit!!" He shouted and fired his shotgun continuously, but he missed and eventually fell down backwards, dropping his shotgun. Fettel was above him, and opened his mouth wide.

"Hey...! What are ya do... HEY NO! NO! ARRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!" The soldier screamed as Fettel ate him up alive and the camera became blood stained, and all that remained was static...

**Injury/Symptom/Death? 10:22:16 END VIDEO

* * *

**

That F.E.A.R. Operative must be the Point Man!! The only thing left for me to do was to find him... that is if he was alive. But if he survived this much amount of horrible encounters, he must be alive for sure!

"Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh..." Fettel's voice was just behind me, "I sense it too... our long lost brother is near... I will not do anything to him, nor will I do anything to you. However, I will let my puppets do the talking and decide..."

He disappeared before I could say a word or even shoot him. But I sure wish I killed him because I could have done this job a lot faster if I did... I heard footsteps from behind.

"Watch your six, the target is close by!" It was a Replica soldier's voice.

_Shit... no cover. I guess it's best to run..._ I thought. It was true though; my slow motion wouldn't last long enough to kill a squad, and by then I would be coverless and die in a matter of seconds. If I was hiding behind something and shooting back I probably wouldn't have needed to lower my eyes to kill them.

I did, however, throw a grenade as I heard the footsteps became louder. It rolled to the ground...

"Oh shit, grenade!!" One of them screamed and they seemed to be retreating. As the grenade blew up, I heard a little bit of screaming. They probably weren't dead, but at least just injured.

But deciding to take advantage of that explosion, I decided to take the time to run away before they could find and shoot me.

I ran away as far as I could, yet the end of the cave was still nowhere in sight, or more importantly the way back to the higher level of this god damn place. But like Fettel said... the Point Man's presence was near... that meant he was around here for sure! I proceeded towards to continue my investigation, with high hopes that I would fine the Point Man...

...Until I heard an explosion from one of the rocks in the cave. From there about five Replica soldiers entered, but at least they made a nice exit for me.

"It's him, kill him!!" One of them ordered as they readied their weapons. That was my cue to lower my eyes and enter slow motion, firing before they could. I dodged most of their bullets as I side stepped consistently and shot two of them down.

I got the feeling that these ones weren't the same ones I fought earlier... they looked different as they wore some sort of white plates with wholes for their eyes, and the back of their head was red, not to mention some of their armour... the uniform of these soldiers were written, "Elites". Maybe that meant they were more advanced than the ones I fought before...

As my slow motion nearly finished draining, I shot the third one down. But I used the opportunity to get out my camping knife and throw it at one of the Elites, which I decided to call these Replicas, in the face, pouring blood from their nose. The last one remaining tried to shoot me, but realized he missed and had to reload. I used this time to charge at him so he can drop his weapon, but it was him who checkmated me as he clubbed me in the stomach with his rifle. I fell down, moaning in pain. I tried to get back up and fight again, but he elbowed me in the back and I fell down to the ground. I couldn't even stand up now and hardly open my eyes.

All of a sudden, I heard gun shots coming out of nowhere... it seemed to kill the Elite as I heard his scream. I tried to get back up, but I couldn't and went unconscious...

* * *

Where was I...? Everything... so... dark...

My eyes opened up, slowly. My wrists were chained together on a wall... and I looked around, where it was a prison of some sort. Bars and walls made out of stone... what was I doing here...?

_Hurry..._ A masculine voice called me.

Hurry? How could I do that if my arms were chained like this? This was just ridiculous...

Suddenly the chains loosened and the bar doors opened. Someone freed me... but who? For sure I didn't see anyone else in this prison cell but myself.

When I got out, I noticed the entire place was filled with flames. It was a dark void... but this time, far ahead of me I saw a blue light... should I go towards it or should I stay away from it?

But my question was already answered when something was pulling me towards. No matter how much I tried to resist, it didn't work out quite well. I tried and tried to keep away in case something bad happened... But I had no choice and I went through the blue light.

Everything was white for a moment, until I saw a young woman reaching out for me, shouting "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" It was Alma... it had to be her. Then words whispered to me, _"my baby... give it back to me..."

* * *

_

Ugh... How long was I out...? I remember passing out...

I looked around my surroundings. I was in a tent, and my assault rifle was right beside me. I picked it up and got out of the tent, taking a note of scattered bodies of Replica soldiers and Elites.

"Who could have done this...?" I accidentally thought to myself out loud.

I kept looking around, only to find out that I was back at the spot where I got knocked out.

I entered back in the cave... and I heard some gunshot nearby. I followed the direction of where I heard it from, and that led me to a ladder going down. I climbed down to hear more gunshots...

When I turned around, there was Alma, as well as the one person I've been looking for this entire long. He had a F.E.A.R. uniform and was the same person I saw in the video earlier... F.E.A.R. Point Man!

But looking around the situation, it didn't look like a place to say a greeting or whatsoever. He was holding a pistol, aiming it straight at her. That Alma was apparently the one taller and older one I saw... it kept me wondering why there were two forms of her following me around when there's only one Alma.

"Hmph, you never give up do you?" The Point Man scuffed as he emptied his clip and reloaded a fresh new one. He turned around and noticed me, looking a bit surprised, and so was Alma, who noticed me as well.

"You...you!!" He exclaimed as he turned his attention towards me until he turned back to Alma, "Quick, there's no time... she'll kill us!" He warned me as he aimed his pistol back at her.

Alma didn't say anything, and she just walked towards us. The Point Man shot her multiple times in the head that barely showed any kind of effect on her. She walked at lightening speed and appeared right in front of him, and she pushed him away towards me. I moved out of the way and he got back up again, re-aiming his weapon.

"Don't just stand there! Take a piece of the action!!" He ordered me as he readied to fire his weapon again at the monster that constantly haunted me. I readied my assault rifle, and my finger was getting closer to pulling the trigger.

* * *

**To be continued...**

_**There we are, the Point Man's debut in this story!!**__** The next chapter would most likely be a battle between Dash and Point Man against Alma. I'm gonna try and create more of a scene in the next chapter... for now I'm tired. Please R&R!**_


	18. The Haunted VS the Haunter

_**The epic battle... or not! Yes Dash finally meets the Point Man, but remember, this is NOT the fin**__**al chapter, heck I doubt it's close to the last chapter just because the Point Man is being met and that Alma is seen, making it look like this will be the final battle. Anyways, enjoy this chappie!**_

**Chapter 18: The Haunted VS the Haunter**

I spread out from the Point Man, making sure he wouldn't get in my line of fire. Then I started firing, but accidentally missed because Alma disappeared just as I pulled the trigger. I looked every single direction around me, until the Point Man shot at the direction towards me, but not at me. When I turned around, Alma was there, treating that shot as just a paper cut. I fired once again, this time with rapid succession of hits. But I realized before I knew it, I was out of ammo!

"Shit!" I cursed as I tried to add a new fresh new clip to my rifle, but she came to me when I didn't see it and hit it so hard it slipped out of my hands. I backed away from her as she was about to strike me, but before I knew it the Point Man delivered more shots to her. She turned her attention towards him as he too moved at lightening speed. Man he was fast! Almost as fast as Alma, and probably even me if I lowered my eyes...

Wait, I just remembered... from that vision... that man in the water that gave me the ability was...

Getting my mind off of that thought, I realized Alma was attacking the Point Man!! She jabbed him in the face so hard he was thrown all the way to the opposite wall and fell down. I sprinted and picked up my assault rifle, added another clip to my rifle and shot at her, and she stopped for a moment, but not before she threw him at me. I tripped and collapsed, dropping my assault rifle. Not knowing what to do, I stood back up and so did the Point Man, who was practically staggering. But he managed to keep his pistol on his grip, pointing it towards her, and fired another round. That was my chance to pick up the rifle I dropped. But before I could she stopped me by pushing me away from it. The push was so hard I crashed to the nearby wall.

When I got back up the Point Man continued to shoot at her as he backed away from her as far as he could. That was my chance to stand up and pick up my assault rifle, shooting at her. But that didn't seem to stop her from swatting the Point Man sideways. He fell down right in front of me. He struggled to get back up and eventually gave in, and was unconscious. I was alone now in the fight.

Alma glared at me, and began to approach. I shot my assault rifle on her face. It didn't seem to have any effect, even if I shot her in the eyes it didn't seem to blind her as she was clearly walking straight towards me.

She was getting really near me now, and I knew this was hopeless. Without hesitation, I tossed my last grenade at her, which seemed to have made her stagger but not a lot. That was my chance to fire at her while dust was everywhere, and she couldn't see me, or at least I thought so. Hopefully she really was blinded for now.

When most of the dust was gone, she glared at me again, this time looking rather exceedingly angry. But I didn't regret doing that either. I fired at her again while she was still attempting to come and kill me. She was really close to me though, and I was cornered. Fuck damn it, I should have used that opportunity when she was blinded to run another way! It was too late now... she was about to kill me as she screamed in anger...

Until the Point Man got back up and shot her once. She noticed him getting back up and aiming his pistol towards her.

"Want a piece of me??" He challenged as he fired through her gut, her neck, and her head. Just when he fired another shot, Alma disappeared, and the last bullet nearly hit me in the arm. Close call...

"What the... where did she go?" I thought out loud.

"She's definitely not dead..." The Point Man replied as he looked around.

We waited and looked around for about five minutes or so around the current area we were in. She... was really gone.

"She's... gone?" I wondered, expressing a little bit of worry.

"Guess so..." He calmly answered and walked cautiously towards another way ahead... which was thankfully the exit. If it was another part of the cave Alma would have been hiding and ambushing us.

When we rushed out, we realized it stopped raining and it was getting a little sunnier. We were in a forest, and the sun shone near us as the place became a lot brighter. The Point Man took a few steps forward...

"Haven't seen that thing for days..." the Point Man sighed as he looked at the sun while shielding his face. He laid down in exhaustion, obviously from all those damn soldiers and Alma that kept bothering him. I knew that because I was too... but to a lesser extent of course, as the point man was here longer than I was. I wiped the sweat off my face and sat down.

"Sir, there's something I want to ask..." I started as I looked at him as he turned his face towards me.

"What is it?" He replied as he sat back up.

"Well... actually two things... the first thing is... how long has it been since you were here?" I questioned, must knowing the answer.

"Hah hah... well, it's been about almost a week! The helicopter had a sudden engine failure, and I couldn't contact the F.E.A.R. team in anyway... the radio signal was jammed for an unknown reason." He answered my question... partially.

"Well... what happened to your squad after that? I noticed a few SFOD-D dead bodies earlier... add that I saw a video recording of one of the soldiers."

He continued after taking a sigh, "First we set up a camp to do the least we could to survive, but today the squad split into two teams. One investigated the entire forest, another to investigate a cave... where my team was to investigate. The ones looking around the forest found a warehouse, and decided to take a look around the place. Soon I lost contact, and I decided to go check it out, only to find Alma and you!"

I was a bit surprised. The fact that there were still surviving members of SFOD-D soldiers around...

"Wait a minute... how did you survive all that? You must have been starved and thirsty!" I asked, rather stupefied.

"The crashed chopper still had some food in there just in case..." He laughed. I giggled a little too, to show some respect at least.

"Anyway, that's one thing you asked... what's the other...?"

"Oh that um..." I paused, and after a few seconds I replied back, "I'll ask you later."

I was going to ask if he knew I was his clone... but that didn't seem like the right timing. Maybe I should tell this to the other F.E.A.R. team members once I come back.

The F.E.A.R. Point Man stood back up all of a sudden, holding his pistol on one of his hands. He seemed ready to find the missing survivors, or at least the remains of the squad.

"We have to find out about the team now... what was your name?" He took a pause to ask.

"Dash Parker, sir." I replied.

"Heh, cool name. But we have to find out what happened to the rest of the squad. If we find a survivor, or not, then we'll try to contact the F.E.A.R. team somehow. We'll have to find a way out of this place somehow..." He continued as we began walking through the forest.

* * *

The trip was Alma and Replica soldier free, but what really annoyed us were the bushes around. We had to use our hands consistently to move them out of the way. At least they didn't scratch... but rather getting in our way instead. 

The trip took us about five minutes to explore. Downhill we saw a rather rusty, odd, yet large building. We climbed down the hill and the building was just near our sight, and we took a look at it.

"This looks like a hotel to me sir... I mean look at the windows... there's so many and they're lined up in a pattern..." I observed.

"I wouldn't say it's a hotel now... it used to be from what I heard in 1982. ATC employees and scientists came in here to test out the Replica soldiers for Fettel. He used the soldiers to murder everyone in the rooms of the hotel, and eventually the ATC somehow stopped Fettel and the soldiers from murdering. They decided to use this as a place to store documents and weapons, and maybe even science experiments. But a few years after, something killed them..." He explained as the two of us walked near the front door.

The door opened by itself... we walked cautiously into the entrance, already knowing something bad was about to happen. There was dust everywhere around the room we entered, as well as spider webs hanging on the ceiling. It was really cold in here...

As we walked in, a straining Replica soldier crawled out of a room nearby, but he was somehow pulled back in. From there we heard loud bloody screams and coughs, until the soldier was busted through the doors at lightening speed and was torn to pieces.

"Sir, we should investigate... don't you think?" I suggested.

"No, Dash. We may get into trouble if get caught off guard coming back in this room... I'll secure this area. Report back whatever you saw." The Point Man ordered as he raised his pistol.

"Yes sir." I answered and entered the room where the Replica got killed from. I raised my assault rifle and turned my flashlight on as it was pitch black in this place.

The room had crates and supplies labelled with ATC logos. Some were bashed open, or had cracks on them. There were also Replica bodies everywhere as well, and let me add that the corpses were laying around in every grotesque way possible. They were decapitated, their limbs were cut off, their bodies had cuts and bruises all around them, and not to mention that some of them were still bleeding like crazy on the floor. There were blood puddles everywhere...

Suddenly the ceiling broke and another Replica soldier's corpse fell down, but this time it didn't come down alone.

There were noises I was definitely familiar of... something from the ATC laboratory... they were the things I heard from what killed the Replicas there... and not to mention the SFOD-D soldiers.

When I turned around quickly I saw the same creature again, but it was really close and it slashed me in the arm, making me drop my rifle. I fell down backwards but landed safely, but soon after that I picked up my assault rifle again and looked for that monster like thing again. It was out of sight though...

Or I just thought so.

When I least suspected it came out from a nearby vent in the ceiling and striked me again, but this time I landed a few shots on it. As it ate my bullets it ran away at lightening speed to the wall, climbed it, kicked it and slashed me in the tarso this time. But I got back up and fired my last round at him and he disappeared...

This obviously told me something... there couldn't be any SFOD-D soldiers still alive. If the Replica soldiers here were dead already, I doubted the SFOD-D could have survived this attack.

I had to hurry back and report this back to the Point Man... I hope he wasn't being attacked by those things either. As I returned back to the same room again, I realized it was empty again...

"Um... Point Man? Hello...? Sir, I'm back!!" I called, but I was really talking for no reason... Where the hell did the Point Man go all of a sudden? I really hoped that he was being attacked so he decided to run to another room...

I decided to check upstairs for now and investigate other rooms in the used-to-be hotel. I climbed the stairs, but I decided to go quietly and slowly... even ghosts don't suspect people if they walk quietly and casually. I mean ghosts can't see things everything at the same time, right? Unless if they're gods, I doubt they can...

Upstairs wasn't a hallway, surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly. Instead this floor was more like having restaurants and bars. I looked around the hall, with many restaurant menus taped on the entrances. The light here was surprisingly not as weak as I thought, but of course, the place was still used for the ATC.

Suddenly one of the glasses in one of the bars broke, and the glass shattered around the floor everywhere. But I didn't see anything or anyone nearby... But something was definitely around.

And I was definitely being watched.

I walked into the bar cautiously, and looked around the place very carefully. Around the bar table there were blood on it, but more just kept from the blood stained ceiling. The pool table just behind still had a cue ball and an eight ball on it. The stick on the table was also snapped in two. I also checked the holes, and blood was all that filled them.

I decided to examine one of the holes, and when I looked closer, the reflection showed Alma behind me. I turned back, only to realize no one was there. However, that was also the first time I noticed the piano just beside the bar table.

The piano was still clean. I could clearly see my own reflection through it. There were also music notes on the piano as well. I took a look at it, to find out that it was the one song my parents loved; Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen. I liked it too being honest, but not as much as my parents did. Of course, that song was loved by many people worldwide from what my parents told me.

_Play... play it..._

It was the same childish voice I heard. It was Alma... it had to be her, and she was somewhere in this room for sure. I even saw her in the reflection of that blood holed pool table.

I had no choice. I mean I'm dealing with a girl with physic powers, who I definitely have no chances against winning. But then again, I wasn't the best piano player around, though most people believed I wasn't so bad.

I saw down and played the notes, but not without mistakes. I played it again, but obviously I failed to play well again. But then practice makes anything perfect... So I had to have patience. I tried as many times as I could, but my interpretation was still quite off. I had to re-try consistently to try and get things right, but each time I seemed to be getting better and better.

At about the twentieth try, I was started to play beautifully. But while I was, I heard Alma singing from nowhere...

_Mama... just killed a man... put a gun against his head, pulled my trigger now he's dead... Mama... life had just begun..._

I ignored her singing and continued playing. She didn't sing that bad though, but it was getting a little distracting. But beggars can't be choosers.

_Mama... didn't mean to make you cry... if I'm not back again this time tomorrow... carry on... carry on... as if nothing really matters..._

Somehow I felt like the lyrics were a little connected to what Alma was trying to tell me all this long. But then it's just a song, it wouldn't do much now would it?

When I finished playing until the end, Alma whispered to me, "_Well done..._"

Suddenly the music notes flashed in a blinding light. I backed away from it, only to see Alma coming out. But she acted like as I wasn't there as she simply walked towards the exit of the bar. But when she disappeared, she whispered something...

"_I'm free..._"

Huh?

What did she mean? She's free? She must be joking... if it wasn't for her freedom she wouldn't have been torturing me all this long! And possibly that piano note wasn't something of a prison for Alma for sure... how the hell can a person be imprisoned in music notes?

Suddenly, I heard gun shot from the hall before. I ran out of the bar and followed the trace of where I thought I heard those bangs... The halls still didn't seem as if anything happened. That is when I neared the elevator. The Point Man was there, shooting at Replicas who were still here probably looking for hostile forces.

"Hey...! It's you!" I called as the Point Man took one last shot with his pistol which ultimately killed a Replica soldier, bringing him down to the ground. The place we were specifically in was now blood stained with Replica soldiers.

"Dash... so you're okay." He replied as he added another clip to his side arm.

"That's my line...!! You disappeared all of a sudden when I was about to rendezvous!" I complained a little, regretting to do so to someone older.

"Yes, I know. But something got my attention... apparently it's not just Replicas we're dealing with here." He pointed out quite the obvious, or at least to me.

"I...I see... but anyway, I remember seeing Alma. She came out of this music notes I played on the piano. Do you have any idea what that could lead to?" I had to know this. Seeing Alma coming out of something and saying she's free would definitely be disastrous.

"No, I do not, but that obviously means she's in this area somewhere. Dash, our main priority here is to find out what happened to the rest of the SFOD-D squad. Heaven knows what Alma or Fettel could have done to them, but if they are loose in this area, they're in danger." The Point Man stated our objective.

"Yes sir... should we continue our search?" I answered as I nodded. He gave me a thumb up.

_**To be continued...**_

_**This is one of my longest, or possibly THE longest chapter, at this time! Wow... but as much as it's long that's how stressful it's been lately, but oh well, stress is stress. Anyways, a common criticism in the story, not much description. If there's not much here I'll add more next chapter. Anyways, REVIEW!!!**_


	19. The Madhouse

_**I'll be frank, I finished F.E.A.R Extraction Point on Extreme difficulty. First time I used cheats but in the next game I played for real. Boy was it hard… but anyways, NEXT CHAPTER!!**_

**Chapter 19: The Madhouse**

The Point Man and I climbed up a few set of stairs for quite a while. Sure, elevator would have been faster, but then really freaky yet crappy things will happen for damn sure. We would have only used it if there were no stairs to climb.

Reaching a nearby door, I pointed my rifle at it as the Point Man proceeded, kicking it open. We both ran in, only to see it was a room where it was a typical hotel room… if typical was the right word. It was really old. The mattress on the bed had a spring as the sheet was ripped open, as well as windows crashed and desk crumpled down. The television was cracked too. Not to mention the bathroom door was broken.

There was even a puddle of blood there too.

"This is obviously a SFOD-D's soldier blood… if it was someone else's it would have been dried out right now." The Point Man said as he examined it with his finger, then turned to me, "Dash, take a look at other rooms in this hotel and see if there could be any other SFOD-D remains."

I nodded and left the room, but kept it opened in case of an emergency.

I checked the room beside the one we went in, and kicked the door open. I searched around this room. It was nearly the same, except for the blood puddle wasn't there. But the strange thing about this place was that there was a note on the broken desk. The paper was crumpled but I could still read it…

* * *

**Dearest Marla**

_Helen… forgive me for saying this. I will not last long, but for my last breathe I will say this to you… The test subjects I have tested from my company… they have gone out of control and though we have cancelled the test, I have also been shot.__ Please forgive me… as I cannot keep my promise to come back. Tell our daughter Helen that I'll love her for always._

_Love, __John

* * *

_

I put down the note and took a quick look at the bathroom. Kicking the door open, I pointed my assault rifle in case something would happen. The only thing there was in the place was a rotting skeleton. Maybe it was that John person's corpse... seeing as that letter would not have been here if it was someone else's corpse.

All of a sudden I heard screaming in the room where the point man was. I rushed out of the room and ran back to the room he was checking up on. There was a skeleton on the floor, as well as more blood around...

Please do NOT tell me the Point Man was dead.

He could not have died... if he did... I'll be alone here, dead. And I would never see anyone I loved ever again...! Why were these things happening to me?

I quietly left the room. I was absolutely sure about one thing; I was definitely being watched, either by Alma or Fettel. Or even those strange creatures I kept facing that attacked me. Knowing them I'm not safe anywhere in this hotel.

Approaching another hotel room I kicked the door open. I entered with my rifle ready... nothing attacked me or whatsoever, but I did see a body of a SFOD-D soldier...!! At least I found out what happened to one person in the squad...

He also had helmet cam... I took the video chip out of his helmet and slot it in the portable video player I found earlier from the cave. Maybe this could show me answers of what may have happened to the SFOD-D team... I pushed play and the video playback began.

* * *

**October 20****th****, 2005 23:11:08 Begin Video Playback**

**Private Overmire**

Private Overmire, Lee, Kowlaski, Mackenzie, and Jones were in the hotel's entrance... they entered, having their weapons at the ready. The five members took a quick look around, but held their weapons in their neutral position, sighing in relief that the area was clear. They took glimpses of look around the entrance as well.

"Remember, ghosts love to fool with you. Don't think we're safe completely yet." Jones reminded as he reloaded his submachine gun.

"Hey chief, look!" Mackenzie shouted as he pointed to a Replica soldier, who was lying on the floor, dead. A puddle of blood surrounded him too. There was no way the Replica died out of nothing...

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Kowlaski shivered as he looked at the corpse.

"Alright, everyone we'll split into teams. Overmire and Mackenzie, you two are one team. Kowlaski and Lee, you two are another. I'll check this floor... Overmire and Mackenzie, take a look at the second floor. Kowlaski and Lee, investigate the entire building. We'll rendezvous here once we are done with looking around." Jones ordered as everyone nodded and held their weapons...

Overmire and Mackenzie climbed the stairs and reached the second floor as everybody else separated, trying to find out what the hell was going on with this place. A Replica soldier found dead meant something was very wrong. And when something went wrong, none of them were safe.

Overmire and Mackenzie looked around the hallway they were in... Restaurants and bars were everywhere. They were obviously abandoned, seen as spider webs dangled on the ceilings, as well as tables falling apart and the kitchen doors opened, obviously meaning that something was not quite wrong here...

"Got a bad feeling about this Mackenzie... maybe we should go back." Overmire expressed his worry as the two continued investigating.

"Buddy, we have GUNS for something. Use your head." Mackenzie teased as he walked towards a bar. He approached a puddle of blood and kneeled down, put a little bit of that on his fingertips and licked it.

"The blood... it's still a little warm for someone who's supposedly dead. Let's hope that this isn't a Delta Force blood..." Mackenzie explained as he examined the blood a little more.

Overmire began to get extremely nervous and walked towards the exit to the bar. As soon as he exited though, the lights on the bar went out.

"What the fuck...? Overmire, did you turn the lights off?" Mackenzie cursed.

"Um... no. I did nothing... where do you operate the switches anyway?" Overmire wondered as he waited for an answer.

"Hey... Mackenzie? Are you still there?" He stuttered as he turned his flashlight on... all he saw from where he saw Mackenzie last was a skeleton with blood all over it...

"M-Mackenzie???"

Suddenly Overmire turned around, seeing a little girl in a red dress coming in his way.

"YOU! You're Alma, the person that killed ATC employees!!" Overmire shouted as he fired his weapon at the girl. Unfortunately it didn't seem to have any effect on her. Overwhelmed and shocked, he ran away to the nearby stairs to get the hell out and tell, make that warn, everyone in the squad that Alma killed Mackenzie.

All Overmire felt all of a sudden was pain. He collapsed as he descended the stairs, and his only way to get out of here was to crawl. But Alma would get him by then...

But to his luck after he crawled down the stairs, he noticed SFOD-D soldiers walking by...

"H...HEY! W...WAIT FOR M...ME!" He shouted as he came down.

The two soldiers got his attention and ran back to him.

"Overmire, what the hell happened to ya? And where's Mackenzie?" Kowalski questioned, concerned of Overmire's injuries.

"Al...Alma... she's in this building... better find Jones and report this... we should get the hell outta here..." Overmire gasped in pain, and tried to ease the pain he went through. Kowalski and Lee helped him up by putting his arms around their shoulders, and helped him to his feet. The trio looked around the rooms more carefully, knowing Alma would be coming out of nowhere when they least suspected it and cast eternal spell on them.

"I doubt Jones would still be investigating the other room he's been looking at... He shouldn't be taking too long." Lee commented as the trio nearly came back to the entrance.

They saw a wounded Jones lying on the floor. He was clutching his arms in pain as well...

"D...Damn it..." He grunted.

"Jones! What the fuck went wrong with YOU?" Kowalski exclaimed as he neared him too, letting Lee take care of Overmire.

"R...Replicas... everywhere... uh..." Jones muttered his last breathe and slowly died as blood came out of his mouth everywhere.

"How the hell could Replicas be here?" Overmire wondered as he tried to stand back up as Lee let him go.

Before his question was answered, maybe even with a possible "I don't know", Jones' corpse was thrown into a nearby window. Everyone turned around and stayed cautious, with their weapons at the ready.

"SHIT!!" Kowalski screamed as he was somehow dragged into the room Jones was investigating, and munching sounds were heard as well as his screams. Finally he also burst out of the room, then to the ceiling. After that something nailed his neck, chest, and legs. Blood poured like mad from him and after that nearly none came out.

Lee and Overmire, knowing the situation was intense, ran back to where they came from and aimed their weapons backwards. However, Lee was screaming. Overmire quickly spun around, seeing him getting impaled by someone none other than Paxton Fettel, who was holding a dagger. He then threw his dead body aside to a vent on the ceiling.

The last surviving Delta force soldier in this mad house rapidly fired his SMG at Fettel. However, as soon as he did he disappeared... it was unknown whether he killed him or not.

He knew something was about to attack him soon... he dashed to the stairs and climbed a few sets. For some reason it seemed darker... but he could still see. He quickly found hotel room and kicked it open, aiming his weapon around it, making sure nothing or no one was in there.

There was nothing.

He slammed the door shut and hid in the room, under the desk. He doubted even Alma could see him there...

Or at least he thought so.

He saw the door opening a little bit... but no one was coming in... He readied his weapon, and aimed it towards the door. Nothing seemed to have attacked him... quietly he stopped hiding under the desk. But he realized doing so was a huge mistake.

He saw Alma, coming in from behind the opened door. She slammed it and went up to the cornered Overmire. She reached her hand for his throat, and began to strangle him. She grabbed him in the neck so hard his helmet fell off, and his helmet cam now changed the view of the poor soldier dying from the monster that haunted millions of ATC employees. She gripped his neck even harder, and it somehow made holes in his throat, making blood pour everywhere in the room. She then threw him away. After that she reached for the helmet, and crushed it... She seemingly knew that the helmet was recording something...

**Injury/Symptom/Death? 23:18:26

* * *

**

So... the answer was clear... nobody from the Delta Force squad was alive. I had to report this to the p... wait, he was dead! Even worse the radio signal was jammed... what the hell was I supposed to do now? I couldn't possibly live through this madhouse for the rest of my life!

Sighing, I got out of the room and decided to check other rooms...but before I entered another room, a gunshot NEARLY hit me. Instead it hit a wall. After that I spun around but nobody was there. I did hear footsteps though...

I decided to check that out. Someone was definitely here... there was no doubt. It wasn't Alma or Fettel, as they never used guns from what I saw. And Replicas would come in groups instead of coming individually, so it wasn't them.

The place where I heard the footsteps from led me to the staircase. I ascended it, but being watchful in case of another gunshot... The one I saw earlier was really close, it almost got me. If I moved even an inch I definitely was a goner.

There was another pistol shot coming towards me. This time it managed to fling my assault rifle out of my hands, then it nearly got me in the face.

I picked up my assault rifle and quickly fired from the direction I thought the gunshots were from. I heard some grunts but I couldn't see anyone... I got my chance now to find out who was doing this. He should be slowing down soon...

Quickly going up, I reloaded my assault rifle and readied my weapon to fire at the perpetrator who shot at me.

I finished climbing up the stairs. But I couldn't believe my eyes. I saw someone I saw earlier.

The Point Man.

He was walking the other direction while he was clutching his shoulder... breathing deeply in pain. When he noticed my footsteps, he spun around and noticed me.

"D...Dash?" He muttered. He tried to say something as he lowered his head, but before he said a word, I saw him raising his pistol towards me. But before he could I shot my assault rifle at his pistol, getting it out of his hands. It flew to the washroom door, but I aimed his assault rifle at his head.

"So what the hell is going on...? Are you a traitor??" I angrily shouted at the Point Man.

From what I remember, he shot his weapon at me, told me to investigate other rooms and the next time I entered the room he was in there was a skeleton. Then later he even told me to investigate a room with that invisible creature that killed Replica soldiers... things were definitely getting suspicious from the start when I first saw him.

The Point Man couldn't speak, but he raised his hands a little.

"ANSWER ME NOW!!" I screamed at him, getting impatient. My finger was about to pull the trigger, and if he didn't answer me now, then my finger would automatically do the talking for me.

**To be continued...**

_**A bit of a rough work, which I'll admit. Don't ask me... I was rather a bit stressed while writing this. So would the Point Man be an actual traitor? Who knows... stay tuned...**_


	20. Trust

_**So would the Point Man be a traitor? Find out in this chapter...**_

**Chapter 20: Trust**

My rifle was still aimed towards the Point Man's face, with anger still boiling down on my blood. He was utterly defenceless now and raised his hands to signal that he was not trying to harm...

But an answer didn't come out from his mouth.

"Dash," the Point Man began. I was hoping for an answer... "unless if you want a death wish, turn around now."

I couldn't trust him... after all the lies he has been telling me it was most likely that he would use the chance to run away if I looked the other direction. If he thought I was that stupid, he should reconsider now...

"Dash, I mean it! NOW!!" He shouted as he lunged towards me and pushed me to the direction where his pistol was at. Suddenly I noticed gunfire from behind... And I saw some of them hitting the Point Man, and he clutched his injured arm a little bit as he picked up the assault rifle.

The thing was... he wasn't trying to betray me this time. What the hell is going on?

He aimed his pistol up high and shot at the Replica soldiers attacking the two of us. He brought each at least two of them down as he moved super quick, dodging as many rounds from each of the soldiers fired. But obviously this was the time when I had to assist him in battle... one man couldn't handle a squad of super soldiers by himself, even if he had ultra quick reflexes.

I jumped out and fired back at the soldiers... it was true the Point Man was trying to betray me, but at least he saved my life for now... plus now that he got his weapon back, if I turned on him he would have killed me with ease too. I also slowed everything down like what the point man was probably doing and pulled the trigger, letting all the bullets rush towards the Replicas. Although two of them went down, it was time I had to duck in to find cover too as the survivors still fired at us.

The Point Man quickly rushed to one of them and kicked him in the face, which somehow disabled the soldier and made him fly to the nearby wall. Then the Point Man fired at another Replica soldier in the head a couple times, which collapsed to it's feet, dead.

Then I rushed towards the Point Man's position and fired back my weapon at them. One of the soldiers prepared to toss a grenade, and I wasn't really quick enough to prevent him from doing so. But I noticed the Point Man shooting at the grenade, which exploded and backfired the Replica's plan.

Two more Replica soldiers remained. However the Point Man had to reload by this time. But he couldn't as he had some injuries around his arms from the bullets... he gasped in pain.

What have I done... if I haven't made him lose his gun at that moment and trusted him that Replica soldiers were behind me then he wouldn't have been injured!!

The Replicas looked like they were going to fire their weapons, but instead they stopped, as one person came out of nowhere.

Fettel.

"Cease fire... I shall handle this on my own." He ordered as the soldiers stopped, but still aimed their weapons at us. Fettel approached the Point Man, who was still struggling in pain.

"So you decided to refuse... mother and I offered you to let you and your companion live, yet you chose to accept your true fate... you did the exact opposite as you were told... mother will not be pleased about this, brother..." He disappointingly said to the Point Man, who spat a little bit of blood to the wall.

"Y...you're only making me kill an innocent kid just for the good of you and Alma? You bastard...!" He cursed.

"He is no longer of our family now... he is no longer a use. If you followed our orders we could have spared him." Fettel warned him.

The Point Man aimed his pistol straight at Fettel's, and shot it at his intestine. This resulted in him bleeding extremely badly... a lot was spilled on the floor already. The cannibal then puked out some blood out too... and after that he spat some at the wall. The two Replica soldiers helped Fettel stand up.

"I have warned you once before, brother... mother will not be pleased." He coughed as he disappeared to nowhere... along with the Replica soldiers, before our eyes.

I turned back to the Point Man, who was moaning a little from the injury...

"Are you going to be okay?" I questioned as I kneeled near him.

"Y...yeah... won't kill me." He answered, coughing a little.

"Sir... there are no survivors of SFOD-D soldiers... we better just get the hell out..." I suggested.

"Dash?" He called, and after a brief pause he finished, "I'm sorry..."

I was rather confused... sorry for what?

"What happened between me and Fettel... he appeared at the entrance when I sent you to investigate... then he told me to lure you into his trap, and if I didn't do anything as he asked, he would kill not just us, but everyone we know... F.E.A.R. team, SFOD-D team, some of our fellow ATC employees..." He continued his explanation.

"I see... But nothing we can do now... so sir? How about we just get the hell outta here?" I went back to the topic.

"You go alone... I'm going to keep checking this island a little longer... God knows if Alma and Fettel will follow you back. In case that happens, I'm going to distract them here as long as possible so they don't track you down." He decided as he added a new clip to his pistol.

"A...Are you s..."

"Dash, I know what I'm doing..."

I really hoped so.

I nodded and waved a farewell for now to him... then I also saluted him, which he saluted me back before he left me to leave this island. When I see him, all I can see was pride and justice, as well as strength...

* * *

I climbed another flights of stairs and finally reached the roof... it was rather wide open space and there were even unused crates. I tried to open radio contact to the team... the signal was still jammed though. There wasn't anything I could do.

Or so what it seemed.

The radio then became a little more clear. I heard someone's voice coming in...

"...tters... Dash... Betters to Dash... Can you hear me???"

I was glad the radio was working now.

"Sir! This is Dash Parker speaking!" I answered brightening up.

"Dash! FINALLY! I picked up your signal... A Blackhawk helicopter is already on your way to search for you. Try to show your position somehow and they'll pick you up." He explained the situation.

I looked far, far away ahead and there was a helicopter coming for me! All I had to do was fire my gun upwards to get their attention...

The chopper was thankfully heading my way. I smiled at last, knowing I was saved... All this time I have been craving to go back home, although I wanted the Point Man to be with me too.

Just as it was about to land, the chopper suddenly got shot down.

I took a step back, getting ready to fight whatever destroyed it. I got my assault rifle ready and aimed towards where I thought the cause of the attacks were from... although I doubted that bullets could shoot a chopper down. It would take a whole rocket or lots of explosives to bring it down! Even worse... where did the source of the attack come from?

"Pri...priv...Private Dash!! Can you hear me?" I heard someone's voice from the radio.

"Private Dash Parker here. Are you okay?" I responded the radio call.

"We'll live... listen closely, we just tracked Replica forces near your position. We need you to dispose of them for us... we'll try to fix the chopper!" The voice ordered.

"Roger that!" I agreed and cut off the comm. Link. That was then I heard footsteps behind me, as Replica soldiers entered the roof as well. If I had any grenades left then I would have used them... but at least I could slow time down now.

They immediately opened fire before a warning. I side stepped and fired my fury with the assault rifle, getting lucky head shots on the first two soldiers I downed. I then slowed down time and fired more rifle rounds at them, bringing another one down. But the survivors still shot towards me, and all I could do was keep time slowing down. But that wouldn't last forever... I couldn't be firing my shots and slowing things down all day long.

I ran out of ammo, but that was nothing to worry about for me. Reloading would slow me down and waste my slow down time. Instead, I got out my camping knife, and threw it towards a Replica soldier. The toss went through his knee, making him lose his balance and drop his weapon. I sprinted towards him and kicked him.

I looked at other Replica soldiers near me. I tried to kick one of them too, but he blocked me and threw me towards the opposite side, making me nearly fall off the roof. I almost did, but I managed to grab the ledge. The bad thing was they were starting to fire at me. But thankfully they missed...

The gunfire suddenly stopped as when I climbed back up, the Replica soldiers were now dead.

I didn't even have to guess who might have killed them. It was actually rather obvious... but why did he come here all of a sudden was rather a mystery. He probably decided to check what all the shooting was about.

I took the chance to reload, but that chance was actually not long enough for me to take another breath. This time an enemy chopper flew by, and dropped more Replica soldiers to the roof! I managed to shoot some that were still zip lining, but most of them managed to survive. I then hid behind the crates to avoid getting hit by their bullets.

But those boxes didn't last long though. I noticed them crumbling, and they were literally falling apart. My only way out was a grenade, but for god's sakes, I wasted them all.

When the box fell apart, I went for another cover, but not before firing back at the Replica bastards. One of them shockingly held a rocket launcher... It fired and the explosion nearly caught me. I tripped while attempting to avoid though... but to another crate thankfully.

I then came up with an idea.

I picked up the box and used it as a shield against the soldiers. It was my only way of defence. After that I ran near the Replica with the rocket launcher, who was probably ready to fire another set of rockets. At the right time, I threw the box at him, in which he fired when it got extremely close! The explosion caught him and other soldiers as well!

However, there were still three soldiers remaining.

I tried to pick up my knife but one of them grabbed me in the back and pulled me. He then head locked me and shouted, "Shoot his head... NOW!"

I tried to get off the grip but it was no use. He was really strong... but it wasn't long before I saw a grenade being tossed towards the other two, ripping them both to shreds.

He then stopped head locking me and instead punched me in the stomach, then kicked me in the face. He then grabbed me by my head and upper cut me, making me drop my rifle. Then before I could land back on the roof he kneed me on the back. Soon he punched me again as I was still grounded, and blood began coughing off from my mouth.

I blocked his next punch and rolled sideways. After that I noticed one of the dead Replicas held a shotgun. I took a glance at the soldier aiming his rifle at me, but I sprinted speedily towards the only weapon that was my hope. I picked it up and cocked it, but before I could he fired it off my hands. Then at the same time he was about to fire at me, but before that I knew a few gun shots from behind killed him...

I sighed in relief... There weren't any Replica soldiers coming after me anymore.

Or so I thought.

Another enemy chopper flew by... but this time they dropped something different. The thing was as big as a tank. Both arms had what liked huge canons and on the metal body it was labelled "R.E.V.E."

"What the hell...?" I muttered to myself as it charged towards me. I rolled sideways and saw the thing was firing ROCKETS! And even worse about three to five of them at once... not to mention that they were extremely quick. All I could do was move and roll sideways to dodge. But they wouldn't last forever as an explosion would eventually get me and I'll get blown to pieces.

I looked at one of the Replica corpses, and the rocket launcher was still there... but just running up there and getting it would not be a good idea. Those rockets could fly off the ground if I made one false step and the mech hits any place near it.

I backed away and the thing started to follow me. I went to the opposite side of where the rocket launcher was to lure him there. I may have been defenceless but that didn't mean I couldn't fight... As I came closer and closer to the edge of the roof, the R.E.V.E. charged towards me once again, in which I side stepped extremely quickly. I was lucky because if I was a second late, it would have swatted me off the ledge.

But I wasn't as lucky after that. His charge managed to hit me this time, but I didn't go off the ledge. Instead, I landed with a huge thud. So large it made a small crack on the roof. Then I kept backing away. The mech started to throw some of his rockets at me too, but I jumped backwards and quickly ran for the rocket launcher, which was now somewhere in my reach. I picked it up and fired immediately at the thing without hesitation.

It didn't seem to be enough though. I fired another set of rockets.

Still active.

But I knew this was better than nothing. I kept on firing as many rockets as I could. Giving up now meant I didn't want to get out of here. If I died here, the only way I could go back was posthumously.

The next set of rockets managed to caused it to malfunction a bit as it started to fire all over the place. It already meant that the rockets did plenty of damage... I could have kept this up if I could.

Only if I had more rockets.

I was out of them, so I had to find another weapon. I could reach for my rifle, but even if I used all the ammo I had there, it probably wouldn't have destroyed it.

I dropped the rocket launcher, and tried to find a better weapon. But the huge powerhouse just didn't seem to give up. Even if it was malfunctioning, some of the rockets were aimed at me. I had to dodge them a lot... until I was cornered to another ledge of the roof. If I moved another step I would have fell to my death...

Until I realized... the fixed chopper came up and the turrets started firing at the mech! That was really quick... for fixing a chopper.

"We'll take care of this thing... take cover!" The helicopter pilot shouted from the comm. Link radio. I nodded and went back inside the building and saw the R.E.V.E. attempting to hit the Blackhawk, even if the thing took lots of damage. The chopper flew everywhere it could and continued firing turret bullets at it. It managed to put lots of scratches on it.

"Shit...! Turret's out of ammo...!" He cursed from the Comm. Link.

The chopper could only dodge the R.E.V.E.'s rockets instead of bringing any damage to it. I had to do something quick before it gets shot down again...

Suddenly I noticed a small orange box. I accidentally stepped on it, but my foot managed to open it. I found... grenades...!! There were three of them. I took all of them and sped back to the roof. The chopper was still avoiding the missiles, but barely. I took action, "HEY, BIG BOY, EAT THESE!!"

I tossed two grenades at the mech, creating a massive explosion. The robot could hardly move now... And it was seriously malfunctioning, as it walked in random directions and fired rockets wherever it wanted to.

I tossed my last grenade. As it landed on the ground beneath the R.E.V.E's legs, the final explosion then blew the thing up.

"Great job, private! I'm coming to your position right away." The pilot complimented me and lowered the chopper to the roof. I ran and climbed aboard, picking my assault rifle along the way.

The helicopter started going up towards the sky. But I really hoped the Point Man was safe... in that place anything that happens would be chaotic.

I brushed my hair with both my hands and leaned on the wall of the chopper, looking below as well. Then I closed my eyes, extremely tired. The chopper then flew away from the island. There was nothing else for us to do there... but if the current mission of F.E.A.R. team was to locate the Point Man and maybe for me to get out of here, I would say it was a successful one...

But I wondered... how could the Point Man get back here...? The only thing I had to do was to tell the team... I found him. They would be surprised if they found out if he was still alive from that place he was dropped off to...

Instead of thinking too much, I allowed my brain to rest. Sighing, I took a deep breath and fell asleep.

* * *

**To be continued...**

_**Although I think most of you noticed, this story has the most chapters in the F.E.A.R. category so far, and in fact one of the longest running to this day. **__**At this time, this is the only F.E.A.R. story to have the length of twenty chapters. But if any of you manage to update and post more chapters as much as I have... I salute you! Anyways... R&R!**_


	21. The Unknown Conspiracy

_**Holy crap! Has it been this long since I updated? Aw man… sorry for the lack of any news or update lately. I was on a plane trip and I ended up having jet lags, and collapsed every 9PM since I got extremely tired. I still have the jet lag, but while I'm not tired I'll write this chappie so people won't complain or whatsoever. Enjoy!**_

**Chapter 21: The Unknown Conspiracy**

The chopper was making it's way down to the HLZ, and I watched it land. It was a terrible yet awesome thing to wait for; obviously I was able to see my beloved F.E.A.R. team, friends, and my family again. But on the long run I also had to make up a story to explain how I found the F.E.A.R. Point Man. I could just say I never saw him at all, but that would mean they would give up looking for him. Not only that, even if I did explain the whole story I doubt they would tolerate his actions for being a traitor… if I began telling the whole story I had to tell them the betraying part.

Tired to even think, I just laid my head back to rest and watch the helicopter landing. It was so close to the ground I could just jump. But I would get out once they tell me to, since I'm too exhausted to even get up.

Suddenly I felt Alma's presence. Somewhere near me, in the chopper. But I couldn't see or hear her… I was either imagining things or she was watching me somewhere, not saying a word.

As the chopper lowered down, we heard a strange thump at the bottom. It somewhat made me jump but that made me alert, as I knew something was going on down there. Although I couldn't really tell whether the SFOD-D team riding with me was able to hear it.

I tried to say a word, to ask them. But before I even had a chance to make a sound, on the window there was a hand grabbing on to it. I stayed back and tried to stay calm, trying to find a way to somehow get it off. A hand getting on to a chopper never meant anything good. I moved as close as I could to the door to check it out, but when my face got close I realized the adult Alma's face slowly rose and glared at me. I attempted to warn the Delta force soldiers but before I could Alma broke something down the helicopter.

"What the hell…? The engine… something's wrong with it!" The pilot panicked as the chopper began to shake crazily, even as it was going to land.

Before I knew it, the helicopter began wobbling and landed at the wrong angle.

The pilot was killed during the crash while the other one sitting next to it barely survived. I was injured as well, but it wasn't as bad as I thought but still hurt more or less.

"Kid, you better hurry! The thing's about to explode!" He warned me as he managed to get out.

In utter shock I quickly slid the door open, and I was only seconds away before the thing blew up. Neither of us got caught but the destruction was rather what can be considered a derelict.

I gasped in relief, panting as the smoke that came from the fire resulted from the explosion was still in my chest. I tried coughing it out, but that just made things hurt even more. I needed an oxygen mask… like now.

When I got out the rest of the F.E.A.R. team as well as some of the US army forces ran in, checking out what the hell just happened.

"What the fuck…? What the hell is going on here?" Jankowski questioned, shocked to see what happened.

"Engine failure… it… it…" I stuttered, but I couldn't finish and laid down, and my sight began fading on to me...

* * *

I managed to wake up, and looked at my surroundings… I was in a very lit room, laying on a sofa. There was a table in front of it as well and someone was waiting there. But I didn't even need to guess who it was.

"Co…Commissioner Betters…" I moaned as I slowly opened my eyes.

"Good to see you in one piece, kid." He commented and pat me on the back, helping me get up. I coughed a lot in the process though, seeing as the amount of pain I went through from trying to escape from a helicopter blowing up. Speaking of that, I wondered how big the destruction was. But it wasn't necessary to ask about that… I also had another thing to know from the others.

As I got up, I thanked Betters, "I owe you one, sir."

I said that not only for helping me get up, but also sending a chopper for me…

Just then Richard entered the room, maybe wanting to check up on me.

"Hey Dash… how've you been holding?" He asked as he playfully punched me in the shoulder.

"I've been better…" I answered with another cough.

I had to ask him at this time…

"Richard… I just have to ask you… why did you guys leave me… and not wait for me?"

Richard looked down a little bit, almost seeming like he didn't want to tell me or was shamed to do such a thing. But a few seconds later he opened his mouth at last and spoke up… and I was listening. I was either going to hear an apology or an explanation.

"Well… you see…"

* * *

**Begin flashback****…**

(Author's note: This is now told in third person, and Richard is telling Dash what happened. I know I'm changing perspectives, but I think it's better if we can somehow image Richard's view)

Richard was the last person to jump on to the chopper, as Holiday and Jankowski were already on it. They were waiting patiently for Dash, hoping he made it and was still alive. They tried to make contact with him on the radio, but all they heard was static, although occasionally they heard very faint screams, but the loudness of static stayed dominant over any other sounds on the radio.

"We should try and contact him by the HQ… we can't reach him in here for sure." Holiday suggested as he turned the Comm. Link off.

"Sir, we have to wait for him! He's the strongest member in our team right now!" Richard reminded him, but the reminder was not even necessary as everyone else knew.

"He's right you kno-"

Jankowski stopped as Replica soldiers ran in, "die you motherfuckers!" and began to attack them.

"Shit…! Ed, get us on the air!!" Holiday ordered the helicopter pilot who nodded as Jankowski and Holiday fired their weapons back at the Replicas, killing them.

"Wait!! Dash!!" Richard shouted, but he saw the lab explode already. He sighed a little but didn't complain.

'_I sure hope you make it out alive Dash… we still need a Point Man.'_ Richard thought.

Then Holiday looked upset as well, obviously because of Dash's supposed death. So did Jankowski, who was just as angry for losing 2 point men. F.E.A.R. team's most valuable team members just kept dying or disappearing when they were needed the most.

"You gotta be kidding… Alma and Fettel are going to pay for this…!!" Jankowski muttered in anger as he punched the wall nearby.

Richard then stared outside… even if they waited, the last thing they wanted was nearly the entire team wiped out, having only the medic left. Every members of F.E.A.R. were needed, and the only ones were Jankowski and Richard… Holiday would have been a great F.E.A.R. team member as well, but he was already the SFOD-D leader. But more or less… losing Dash was more than just a loss… a **great** loss…

**End flashback**

* * *

I was rather a little outraged with the story, yet making a little sense. They decided to leave without me, assuming I was MIA or KIA. But they also requested back up to search for me… which I was rather glad about.

More or less F.E.A.R. team was fully reunited… or so it seemed. I found the Point Man, but he decided to stay there for further investigation. But I couldn't request for back up. Not only would I break his promise, but more SFOD-D soldiers may be at risks thanks to the dangers the land had to give to visitors.

"I see…" I replied after Richard telling me the story.

"Yeah. Anyway… it's good that you're here. We're being dismissed early today. No missions to accomplish as of today." Richard explained as I heard my stomach growl. It was so loud both Richard and Betters could hear it…

"Aw crud…" I moaned.

Betters chuckled pretty loud but said to us, get in the car, both of you…" He was still laughing. But I understood why.

He led us to the garage and to his car, where he parked a black sedan. It looked rather a little old, either that or the fact that it was used for combat explained it's somewhat rough looks. But if Betters was able to even drive this thing then that meant the engine was still at it's decent shape.

"Come on… I'll get you something to eat." Betters said as he started the car.

Wow… I got lots to eat since F.E.A.R. hired me. I hardly ate nowadays.

* * *

The ride only took us ten minutes, and he brought us to McDonalds. I actually expected that… a little bit. An actual restaurant would take hours to make the food, while in a fast food restaurant it would be a snap, since it was a drive thru, and considering the fact that it opened every hour, it was a wise choice.

"Alright uh… what would you boys want?" Betters asked as he opened the window, about to order. I ordered a whole double cheeseburger meal while Richard simply ordered a Big Mac. Betters didn't seem to order anything, but I didn't think he was that hungry either. But more or less he ordered that and paid for the whole meals… I said thank you about ten times after that and started eating as an order from Betters, who was probably tired from me saying that constantly.

I ate the whole meal like a pig, which Richard and Betters understood from my desperateness. I chocked every once in a while, but I managed to cough them out.

* * *

We finally arrived to my destination… my house. Richard and Betters said see ya to me and I just waved back. I ran back home, waiting for my family to greet me a welcome back. I used my keys and opened the door, waiting for my family to greet me…

"I'm home everybody!!" I shouted in excitement… but nobody was home. But strangely all the lights were lit… except the kitchen.

"Um… hello? Ma…? Pa…? Sis…?" I called slowly as I walked slowly around… I really hoped this house wasn't haunted. If it was I refused to live here and ask to go somewhere else.

But what was really weird was that my family was never home all this long… ever since that mission where I had to leave town and go to that island to investigate that ATC lab, none of my family members were found. There were to traces of blood in my house that day, but Mr and Mrs. Freddericks were dead… and one of Mrs. F's eye popped out of the sink. What the hell was going on around here…?

"Looking for someone, Dash?" I heard a masculine voice… I didn't even need to ask who it was. It was my dad.

"D…Dad?" I called, even if he technically wasn't really my dad, "Oh thank goodness you're here! Dad, this place is insane… you gotta listen!!" I tried to explain, but dad cut me off.

"Alma?"

I wasn't quite sure how he knew that, but I nodded.

"She told me everything… how you found out that you're actually her son. No need to call me your father…" He replied.

"Then… how… Alma…" I didn't know how to shape that into a question.

"Why? I found her supposed corpse when the actual first prototype killed her… that one was nothing but a mere clone that I made. The real Alma is still out there… but ATC managed to capture her once again using Harlan Wade's method that I knew… a lot of people believed it was forgiveness. It was from his notes, but I modified that so that could only be the way to stop the clone. Then the actual Alma spoke to me… saying that she wanted her son back as she was desperate for freedom. I told her that if you found out everything… then I'd take you to her."

Dad's story was rather even more horrifying than my actual past.

"Y…You just imprisoned that poor woman just…just for THAT? What kind of monster are you?" I angrily questioned, "and where the hell is my family?"

"Your family? Let's just say… that unless you do as you are told, they'll be in grave danger. They're somewhere you don't wanna know…" He smirked as he brought out a gun from his pocket… which was not just a pistol… I remembered that from school… magnums were larger in size than normal handguns.

"If you value your life, or their lives… then I suggest you lure your F.E.A.R. team members to Downtown… so I can kill them, deal with you and my family. I wish to unseal Alma to take revenge on ATC for murdering my father." He said as he continued pointing his weapon at my head.

"Why would you release her… you want to cost your own life?" I wondered.

"It doesn't matter whether I die or not. My father's wishes will be granted nevertheless." He added.

"But… you… she'll be killing not just ATC scientists, but also millions of lives worldwide!! You want to just cost your life and let her wipe out every single species living in this planet?" I warned.

"I make my choices… besides… this world is filled with idiots anyway." He laughed then he added, "and you know what… I think this is going to be fun."

"Y… YOU SON OF A BITCH!" I bellowed.

He shot me in the shoulder, and made me fall down to the floor. Blood was pouting everywhere. But I tried sucking up the pain and got up to catch him, but too late, he was already out of sight…

My dad… he was either an irresponsible husband and father or he was a mad man wanting to get revenge on everyone who wronged him… mostly targeting the ATC employees and scientists. But either way he was never actually my real dad. He was just some stranger who raised me…

Clutching my shoulder, I went up to the phone to try and call Ms. Kwon. She knew where I lived at least, so she could come by and treat my injuries… I dialled her number when I finally got to the phone and picked up the receiver…

"Hello?" Ms. Kwon answered.

"M… Ms. Kwon… a…. a… are you there?" I asked faintly.

"Dash? Is that you? What happened?" She asked, staying rather calm but also with a tone of concern.

"I… I've been shot… please… come… and…"

I couldn't finish. The pain was overwhelming me and I had to give up… I let go of the phone and fell unconscious on the floor.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED****…**

_**A**__** ROUGH CHAPTER!! NOOO! Seriously, I'll admit this chapter was a bit… eh. But I'm so tired I couldn't concentrate well and didn't check my grammar and all that. And spelling mistakes… well, I try to check that as much as I can. Anyways, appreciated if you review… MAN, haven't updated for a loooong time. Thanks for nothing, final exams!**_


	22. Unhealed Wounds

_**I'm still pissed off over what happened so far lately… but I updated more or less just for those people who are too intolerant on late updating. And if you still hate this chapter and are willing to bitch at me about it, then don't bother reading this story anymore… I worked hard for this chapter despite my modd right now... in other words, if you're gonna complain at me, then two words; FUCK OFF.**_

**Chapter 22: Unhealed wounds**

Consciousness came back to me, and I realized that I was still at my house… this time Ms. Kwon was right in front of me. I was a little surprised to see her there, since she didn't have the keys to get in here… I wondered how she even found a way in here.

"You're awake… glad to see it." She calmly replied as I slowly got back up, noticing a red bandage on my arm. I grunted a little in pain but really couldn't help it… I could suck up the pain but it was far too difficult to ignore.

"Aw man… this sucks…" I moaned as I sat up.

Ms. Kwon sat next to me, taking my hand with a comfortable squeeze.

"It's going to be alright… you are one of the strongest men I've seen at your age." She consoled, as I blushed a little. I was quite flattered, because there was Richard that was the same age as I was, yet she was admiring me a lot more.

"Better wake up early tomorrow… the next mission isn't going to be an easy one for sure!" Jin warned, in which I replied with a nod. But I had one question to ask though…

"Before you leave… Ms. Kwon? How did you get in here?"

Ms. Kwon looked back at me, as if she couldn't answer that question, and replied, "I… I don… well the door was left open… just don't know why you would..."

The answer puzzled me… I clearly remembered closing it before I saw my dad… or if I can somewhat call him my dad. Who would have come in and opened the door for Ms. Kwon? Clearly I was unconscious by the time I called her on the phone… Maybe it was my dad when he left me… but then again I think I saw the door already closed when I was heading for the telephone… what the hell could have happened while I was asleep?

"I see… okay… see you on the mission maim." I saluted her a good bye as she did the same. I went to the couch and fell asleep once more… the injury was making me tired to the max, I couldn't fight this tired feeling in me… I was in desperate need of sleep… And when I said desperate, I meant ASAP.

* * *

What was happening…? What was going on? Where was I? 

I had no weapon… and I couldn't even see myself. It was pitch black! What the hell is this place? Am I gonna… die here… was this somewhere I even wanted to be, or a place for me to struggle?

"_Are you running…?_"

It was Alma's voice. It had to be hers.

"_Are you still running?_"

I wasn't running… I couldn't even move for god's sake! What the hell was she saying?

"Darkness overwhelms one's fears. And though you can escape, you can never run away from it forever…" This time Fettel had spoken, and though I didn't see him anywhere near me, I did see blood drip from empty air. I figured he was getting closer, as the blood dripping got closer and closer to me…

"I've tried to forget… Tried so hard to forget…"

Forget what?

Just… Let me OUT OF HERE!!

Suddenly, the blackness stopped as flames rose around me. I could at least see myself now… thanks to the fire. But I knew I was nowhere near safe. If I heard Fettel or Alma's voice, nothing was ever good…

"Son of a…" I cursed… as Alma had walked towards me, ignoring the flames. In fact they let her through…

If I had a weapon, even a rock to throw, I would have felt better. But in a world that's nearly pitched black, there wouldn't be anything.

I charged at her and attempted a punch, but she suddenly disappeared. I looked around my surroundings and tried to spot her… but at the last moment I realized she teleported right in front of me and somehow pushed me all the way back. I almost touched the fire… and if I moved just one more inch then I would have been burnt to crisp.

She suddenly screamed and all around me echoed. She was out of my sight once again but this time the whole world I was in began to shake. I tried to hold myself to the ground as best as I could, trying to stay steady. But rubble fell from the sky, and even though most of them missed by a few centimeters, I still had to find a way to escape. But that was when I realized that a dagger was thrown towards me, and I was just about to get decapitated…

* * *

Huh? 

What the… this was…

It was all a dream… I just had a nightmare… I… I had to be dreaming… there would be no such thing as a world full of blackness. But Alma still managed to exist, despite her apparent death… this week was going too far on tormenting me. Somebody… just… help me… please!

I wondered where in the world the Point Man would've been… I mean I managed to find him, and all, but he said he would continue investigating the island just in case Alma would follow me. Still… he already did have a look around, what else did he have to look for?

It was morning out, raining. I got my weapon at the ready and put my armour on, ready to kick ass.

* * *

I bussed my way there first, which was about an hour long ride. I was glad that I was still ahead of time, so I had no need to rush. After taking the bus it was a nice thirty minute walk to the secret base… As much as it was tiring, I was glad Alma or Fettel didn't get in my way. 

Jankowski was waiting for me outside… and probably other members if they still weren't here.

"Hey man, Jin told me everything that happened. How've you been holding up?" Jankowski wondered. I simply responded with a thumb up.

"Why are you waiting outside, sir? Isn't anybody else here yet?" I asked, confused.

"It's just Richard left… I wonder what's taking him." Jankowski replied with a loud yawn. He must have been just as tired as I was last night.

"I would ask the same about the Point Man… isn't it about time we see him again?"

"Only god knows when."

That was also when Betters, Holiday, and Ms. Kwon came out of the building as well…

"…and there's Dash. Do we have a full party here?" Betters wondered.

"Nope, Richie Rich still isn't here yet." Holiday responded, noticing me just as he finished that sentence.

"Well we still got time before the Delta team arrives…" Betters yawned and took a sip of coffee he had.

Maybe Richard was just having trouble with the traffic… I wouldn't be too worried about him, since he made it to F.E.A.R. HQ in one piece usually, and Alma definitely wouldn't pick on him. He never did anything bad to her now did he? I was more worried about the Point Man however… the team waited for his arrival for very long… he still wouldn't come back. I heard that Jankowski was rather a bit rude to him, but seeing him now made me think he was a little bit sad over his disappearance.

Just then there was a gunshot. Everyone turned towards the direction they heard the sound.

"What the hell was that?" Jankowski questioned, as he took a step closer to the cause of the sound.

"I'll go and check it out… wait here." I answered with a nod.

"I'll come with you… I'll watch your back." Jankowski offered and readied his weapon. The two of us then went off with Betters shouting to us, "Stay sharp!"

Me and Jankowski then went over to take a look… I was expecting a Replica soldier was trying to snipe at us, but we were shocked to see what it was.

It was Richard.

He was unconscious, with his shotgun right beside his hands. He had blood stained over his armor, but it wasn't as much as I thought. I didn't think he was dead yet… he was still alive, because I felt and heard some breathing.

"Hang in there Richard…" I muttered.

"Hey… take a look around the place a bit more. I'll bring Richard back to the base." Jankowski added and I didn't argue… I went ahead and decided to look around some more. Walking extreme quietly in case someone was waiting for an attack, I walked ahead.

After that I didn't even need to think about who this could've been.

Fettel.

Ahead of me he was already there, with a dagger on his hand.

"I see that your curse is gone… mother has removed the curse from you… yet the amount of days… it still doesn't matter." He said.

I was utterly confused of what he was talking about.

"What the hell do you mean by that?" I questioned him as I aimed my weapon at his head.

"You'll see very soon… now my puppets… let him leave his misery behind."

He soon disappeared, and behind him about twenty to thirty Replica soldiers ran in. I ran away as they quickly pursued me, trying to shoot me down. I lowered my eyes so everything can slow down. Their bullets were just as slow as throwing a football, so I was able to dodge with a little more easiness. By the time I arrived back at the F.E.A.R. HQ, my ability to slow everything down waned to almost nothing. I saw Holiday, Jankowski, and Betters… Ms. Kwon was tending Richard's wounds.

"Everybody! Replicas!!" I warned extremely loudly as I began to shoot them back, but because of the numbers I only killed two or three. Jankowski and Holiday got their weapons and fought back as well, and Betters took cover. Even the three of us couldn't hold them back… but for our own survival, we kept this up.

"GRENADE!" Holiday bellowed and tossed one at the Replicas… it took out a number, it wasn't enough to satisfy us at least a little bit. More just kept coming.

"Shit!" Jankowski cursed as one bullet went through his elbow. He clutched and took cover behind where Betters was… behind his car, which was probably going to explode, but it would protect them for a certain amount of time.

Just then we noticed that dozen Replica soldiers got killed in just one second. I wondered how the hell that happened…

"Missed me, anyone?"

It was that very familiar voice I was wanting to hear.

"You…!!" Holiday called back, with a grin.

It was the Point Man!

"Everyone take cover… leave these SOBs to me." He ordered as he got his pistol out. He moved at a lightening speed and in no time all the gunfire stopped, as every single Replica soldiers were wiped out. It was thanks to his ability to slow things down… his was obviously more powerful since he was born with it.

Ms. Kwon and Richard, who finally recovered, came out to see what was going on… and boy were they surprised to see that the Point Man alive and well.

"It's great to have you back in one piece." Holiday patted the Point Man on the shoulder.

"Yeah buddy…!! We were worried to all hell… welcome back." Betters replied with a smile I rarely saw.

"Thanks for all your welcoming… but… there's some serious news I must say." He began, "while the Blackhawk chopper was bringing Dash back to the HQ, Fettel and his army managed to knock me out and put me to where all the Replicas were built… on that island."

"Excuse me for the interruption… but I must say this as well… that… island… that was where my father built them."

Everyone turned their attention towards Richard… obviously shocked that Richard's family built the Replica soldiers.

"My dad built those just for the ATC… so our family can live in happy lives until those own soldiers killed my dad." Richard told the short, yet important story.

"So I'm guessing that's why you joined this force is it…" Betters wondered, and all Richard gave was a nod.

"I had to tell you that… since… as the son of someone who has made creatures to commit murders, I am partially responsible for all the troubles that was caused… I'm sorry." He said, near tears.

"Well, it can't be helped now. Just as long as you're helping us fight and avenge your father… stay with us kid." The Point Man said with a smile.

"Yes sir… and please… continue." Richard added.

"Right… so as I was saying, Fettel took me there and told me that he would get revenge upon not just surviving ATC members… but also all those that had connection to them. Families, friends, neighbors, relatives, whatever just helped them to live in this world… and if that's what he meant, it obviously means that he's going to kill every single living being in the universe as a revenge! They first decided to take assault in this city as this was where Armacham originally was built. And millions of lives would be at risk…" The Point Man continued his story of what he learned.

"You gotta be fucking kidding me… and when will this supposed attack be?" Jankowski angrily cursed.

"In two days… I'm afraid." The Point Man reluctantly answered.

"TWO? Those guys must be fucked up…" Jankowski sighed.

"Not exactly… Dash, remember Alma gave you the curse of your death… she and Fettel knew this was coming, so… because it took you four days to figure out, the remaining three days was used to allow us to prepare for the attack. And since a day passed after that incident, now it's two days remaining…" The Point Man explained.

"So… it's my fault?" I wondered.

"Nah… you couldn't help it." The Point Man defended.

"All right… if that's the case then we need to inform the government to have every citizen in the city to evacuate. Not to mention have every single SFOD-D members involved, as well as the police force. If that still won't work, we have no choice but to neutralize the entire city, no matter how many survivors are left in here. If it takes an entire explosion to destroy a city full of homicidal gunners, so be it." Betters determined.

"Well we need to plan an attack on the Replicas… because there are still a huge number of them. It doesn't Einstein to guess how many there would be." Jin suggested.

"True, but that's why we have to tell the government about this… they would have to plan out how to make the citizens evacuate in just two days… I'll contact the president about this issue and ask him to announce of what the situation is. After that we must contact the police and the SFOD-D... by the way… the mission we intended will not be carried out. We must defend this entire country from this mad intention Fettel has… we have no time for a murder case now."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Whether this would be the final mission F.E.A.R. mission or not… I can say that I believe in all of you." Betters encouraged and gave us a salute, and we did the same.

"Now then… there's no time to waste. I'm going to send him a letter of this situation and give the announcement to all the people in this city at risk… until then, all of you will be dismissed for today. Be ready people."

We all nodded and left the F.E.A.R. HQ, leaving Betters behind to do his job.

Although probably everyone else, besides the Point Man, could tell their families, I couldn't. My family was nowhere to be seen at this time, and even they were at risk as well… I had to find them first before anything else.

Why dad… just… why…

**TO BE CONTINUED**

_**There, finished another chapter. If it sucks, do NOT bitch at me about it. I'm still in a really bad mood. I don't care if it sucks, I'm not in the mood to try and make it good anyway.**_

**_Just... please read and review. I know I'm being rude, but unless if you're gonna say something bad, just tell me what you think about the chapter._**


	23. Point Man's Journey

_**Okay, things got a bit better for me, and I know it's been a long time since an update. Please do refrain yourselves from giving negative feedbacks for late update, I know it is extremely delayed.**_

_**If you want to know reasons why it was a late update here it is.**_

_**Making chapter is not done in a second. And I don't write it all day; I take breaks.**_

_**I took summer school so I can do chemistry 12 (I'm going to grade 11)**_

_**I have problems with a few friends of mine, and minor family problems.**_

**_Now don't give me any, repeat, ANY negative feedbacks for this chapter. Otherwise you'll be blocked. I already flamed this chapter myself already and I don't need and want another. If you are so confident in doing so then I'll just either flame back or just get rid of you from reviewing my storyies. But read and reviewing is appreciated as long as you don't put any flames to them._**

* * *

**Chapter 23: Point Man's journey**

Why my family was gone was a mystery. My… "dad" must have knew, since he mentioned them that day. Maybe I could find my answers soon… maybe. And besides… I did have a "family" member… the Point Man. He would have been my half brother. I thought maybe he could stay at my house for a bit… I didn't think he really had a home to stay.

Everybody else already left home except me and the Point Man. We were walking down to a nearby bus stop, but not a single bus, or maybe even a taxi, came by. Maybe I could use this chance to ask him something I always wanted ask…

"Um… excuse me… sir?" I called as we walked.

"Yeah?"

"Um… I was just wondering… if you knew… um… uh…"

"That you're a clone of me made by ATC."

I was shocked to actually find out he knew all along. How did he though? I never remember mentioning it… specifically in front of HIM.

"How…How did you know what was going to say?" I asked.

"Heh… maybe it's about time I tell you everything that happened while I was on that island eh?" The Point Man merely smirked, "this is how everything went."

* * *

**BEGIN FLASHBACK**

The Point Man saw the chopper leave with Dash, and was glad that the boy was safe. He went back to the hotel he had to investigate and took a very careful look around. As a F.E.A.R. team member, it was necessary to be careful at all times. In buildings where paranormal activities happen, one can never be too careful.

He went to the sixteenth floor, and heard a series of banging. He walked down the corridor, preparing his pistol. A banging could be a trick, by Alma for sure. As much as she was a ghostly figure, she was also a "pranky" little girl. A prankster to be more precise. She always set up unusual hoaxes on him, and they definitely weren't jokes. To him at least. She found them hilarious… maybe.

He walked down to the door and the banging was much closer. He then saw the door getting hit like crazy. He moved towards it and leaned on the wall to the side of the door. He aimed his pistol towards the door as he twisted the doorknob, opening it and looked inside the contents.

He was shocked to see that it wasn't Alma or Fettel. Or a Replica Soldier.

It was a human girl with dirty blonde hair. Her ankles and wrists were tied up, and her mouth was taped as well. She was also blind folded. Maybe the Replicas caught her and did this so she wouldn't see Fettel trying to eat her up alive.

The Point Man removed her blindfold and the tape from her mouth.

"Ah!" She let out and gasped for breathe, "Thank you so much…! Did you come to rescue me?" She asked, with hints of relief and obviously happiness.

"Er… well not necessarily… but never expected a civilian to be held captive here." The Point Man replied and untied her ankles first. And after that went for her wrists and she finally moved around a bit, realizing how much more freedom she had now.

"I'm Helen Jackson… I was just taken here about three hours ago or so I think… seeing my watch here." She explained as she got her watch from her pocket… but her being tied up explained why that wasn't on her wrist instead.

"I'm F.E.A.R. team's Point Man… I decided to investigate this area for a while. There's a girl named Alma in here… for sure. She's not just any ordinary human though…" The Point Man told her the reason of him being in a hotel and saving her by coincidence.

"Alma? Alma Wade? I've known a little about her during my elementary…" She answered, which surprised the Point Man quite a lot.

"Little? Well… tell me those "little" things you know about her… if you don't mind." The Point Man questioned.

"Well… I remember in elementary… a lot of kids picked on her because she was extremely shy and she refused to talk to people. She was severely troubled as well. Then one day I remember when we had to bring our parents and introduce them to the class. That was the day when Alma was never seen again in the school… She was gone forever. Her father told us that she was in need of research. That was all he said." She explained the entire story logically.

This explained why Fettel may have captured this woman. He wanted her to tell him things about his mother…

"I see… well I'm Alma's son… I heard she gave me birth at the age of eight, as part of ATC's project, and my brother's as well a year after that. But they took us away for certain reasons from her… after that they sealed here away in a laboratory and her life signs died, but she somehow existed as a ghost and began her rampage on the very company that wronged her." The Point Man told his story.

"That's sad… Oh my. I can't believe Alma had to die so young and only become something that everyone feared to be… a ghost."

"Well more importantly we gotta get the hell outta here! Forget about her…"

After that he and Helen stood back up and ran out of the room. The Point Man kicked the door open and aimed the pistol towards the hallway, back to where he came from. He doubted there were anymore hostages, since there would have been a lot more banging heard.

He escorted her all the way back to the stairs, but as he went down he heard creaks. It _was_ an old building after all.

Or maybe not.

"Why… why… why are these…"

Helen and the Point Man were on the same set of stairs, and realized that it began to crumble.

"Oh shit!" The Point Man cursed, picked up Helen with his both hands and jumped as quickly as possible, landing safely on to the remaining staircase below.

"Wow! Thanks…! Never thought that wou-"

Without realizing it all the floors in the building were actually crushing, and the Point Man merely delayed his and Helen's doom by a few seconds. Both of them fell all the way to the bottom floor, bracing for a large, hard impact. He was expecting a thud. A _loud_ one. He was falling all the way from a floor that high.

However, some of the remains of the floors managed to help them land safely. Helen's leg had a small cut however and the Point Man had a medium sized one on his arm.

"Hey, you okay? I can help you with that if you want." Helen offered as she examined the arm.

"It's nothing… hold up."

The Point Man looked back up and saw all that remaining pieces coming towards them. They were going to give them whole lot of cuts, so he got his slow mo and shot every single one of them down without much difficulty. This also made Helen stunned.

"Heh… as an ATC born prototype, I can at least do THAT." The Point Man gave a smile and holstered his handgun, and helped Helen get up.

"I wonder why the floors were all broken… that was random. And the walls haven't even come down yet, what's going on?" Helen wondered, looking back up.

"I'd tell ya if I knew. But more importantly, we just got to find a way out before things get even more fucked up." The Point Man answered and tried to find ways to climb the building, but with absolutely nothing to grab on to, it seemed like he couldn't do much.

"Hey… wait… what is this?" Helen curiously stated as she noticed a lever on the ground. She tried pulling it and it seemed to move a few centimeters.

"I'll give you a hand." The Point Man offered and helped her pull the lever and it finally opened, revealing a ladder to the bottom.

"I'll go down first… when I say so, jump down and I'll catch you." The Point Man planned as Helen nodded in agreement, and he climbed down the ladder… but it wasn't as normal as he thought. It took more than just a minute. In fact he finished around eight minutes or so. His arms were getting tired… but he made it.

But the problem was with Helen. She probably couldn't hear if he screamed out loud. He started thinking of ways to call her without even going back up again…

He didn't need to think anymore though. Helen simply climbed down by herself…

"Hey, didn't I tell ya to wait?" The Point Man scuffed.

"Got lonely… hope you didn't mind." She replied as she landed on the floor.

"Alright… stay behind me."

The two cautiously walked towards the underground passage. It was super dark… and the Point Man's flashlight became weak as well. But he had to use it anyway… a weak flashlight was better than nothing at all.

He somehow felt an unfamiliar presence nearby… he turned around to see if there was anyone behind the two. It made Helen turn around as well for obvious reasons… but he turned back around and continued walking. But the feeling he had just felt more and more awkward… and the same presence… a familiar one to be specific, only felt more and more closer. He couldn't bear being careless at this time, but being cautious in the dark with a weak flashlight was a difficult thing to do.

"Helen… stay back…"

But he didn't hear anybody. Or **feel** any response from anybody.

"Helen…?"

The Point Man turned around, only to realize she wasn't there anymore. Where could she have gone? She couldn't have possibly ran away from him… it was too dark to run away from him anyway.

It wasn't until he realized there was a shadow on the ground. He attempted to turn around, only at that moment the flashlight was finally dead. He felt a strong grip on his neck. He attempted to break free but only realized it was useless to try. He was then thrown aside and hit a nearby wall. But that was when he fired a shot from his pistol to see what it was for a second. He shot again to see Alma in her adult form. But he just couldn't believe he realized that until she finally laid a hand on him.

"Bueno adiós." He muttered as he shot Alma in the face, which staggered her. He then took the opportunity to run and kick her while shooting to see every second. Making a swift one, he made her drop to the ground and the Point Man aimed his gun at her. Even if it was dark, he just knew where she could've landed thanks to the direction he kicked her.

"Any last words?" He challenged, as he continued his aim towards her… until he felt a strong punch on the back of his neck. Even if he couldn't see, he knew he was losing consciousness.

* * *

**End flashback**

"So… what happened after that?" I asked, as the bus finally arrived.

"I'll tell you when I get back to your home… getting tired from coming back today." He replied as he yawned. We both got on the bus… and after we took our seat, my head was now concentrated on the all out attack on the city against the Replicas… it would be my last day until I meet my fate.

* * *

_**To be continued…**_

_**I can admit this chapter sucked big time, but that's because I haven't updated or even touched anything related to fanfiction in a long time. So I'm starting to lose all the taste I have. So do not, repeat, do not give me any negative comments for this chapter PLEASE. I KNOW it already sucked big time. **_

**_Anyways the Point Man's flashback will be continued in the next chapter or so. Until then, review! (Despite it's suckiness... XD)_**


	24. Back Home

_**Okay, last chapter was nothing but crap. That was because of my mood and being extremely busy, I had no time to look back and edit. But anyways, the next chapter is here in one piece. ONE PIECE… the anime. Hah. Anyways enjoy while you can, since I'm leaving on vacation in a few days (only be gone for a week though). If I can I'll find an internet carfe and try to update.**_

**Chapter 24: Back Home**

The bus ride was over. When we arrived I had to wake up the Point Man about ten times before we got off. It got a bit frustrating at first, but because he was at that island for a long time and came back quite recently, and even telling me what happened, it was more than understandable.

We got off the bus. The Point Man nearly trudged like a zombie as I led him, being that exhausted. To avoid humiliation, for both me and him, I put his arms around my shoulder, and we walked our way home. It was no cakewalk, thanks to the weight he was pushing me to the ground. I tried my best to keep my balance, but even that was tough. It was one hell of a trip, but I managed to make it home in one piece…

I gasped as hard as I could after all that hard work. He was hardly awake but I decided to lay him on the couch. That was when I went to my room in a long time… I'd let the Point Man sleep here for now…

While I left the keys on my desk, I noticed something was under my bed. For SURE it was unusual, since I never saw anything under my bed before. So what could it be?

I took a quick look to see what was under it. It… was…

"FETTEL!" I bellowed as I got my assault rifle from my desk, aiming directly at him and prepared to fire.

"It was just idiotic of you to hide down there, old man!"

But he hasn't replied…

"Heh… refuse to talk huh? Well this will do the talking for ya!"

"Y…you're mistaken… Dash…"

The voice definitely didn't sound like Fettel at all. In fact it sounded a lot like someone I met everyday. It was… my dad. I tried pulling him out of the bed and realized that all that was done was that he had Fettel's exact same outfit… someone dressed him up like this somehow… but who?

"Dad… why? This is all so confusing… that day you shot me… and what you're doing here now?" I questioned, still angry.

"Dash… that person you saw wasn't me… I've been disguised by an ATC employee… that day…" He answered…

I was shocked to hear that… Just as shocked when I saw Alma for the first time.

"It was an ATC employee… he… set… this whole thing up… he was the one that did all that he told you… he deceived ATC all this long…" He explained, rather a bit strained. Maybe it was just lack of breath. But I was glad to save him in time…

"Who was it?" I asked, but I had no reply from him. I tried calling him a few times… but he hadn't made a single sound. I put my ear near his chest… his heart was still beating. He was just unconscious… I placed him on my bed, allowing him to rest. But once he wakes up, I would have a lot of questions to ask. Those include where my sisters and mom were and who it was that disguised him and began this entire incident. I lowered my head but stood back up… I'll let him rest for now.

* * *

The house seemed so… empty lately. I was alone, all by myself… nobody was home ever since I joined F.E.A.R. But I couldn't blame the team… it was… it was all my fault! I should've stayed and protected them… I should have found a way to protect myself and my family from Alma… I was… I was just too weak minded… and had weak strength.

I went to the kitchen, and picked up a knife to end this misery. This nightmare would end… after I did this. I… just… couldn't… fight this any longer… I was doomed in two days anyway, We were all doomed.

Just then, the Point Man came by and tapped my shoulder, noticing what I was trying to do. I looked back to see him, shaking his head to tell me not to do it. He also had a frown too… maybe it was best not to get him pissed.

"You shouldn't waste all your years in life like that…" He stated, "If you are willing to commit suicide, you won't live to regret it. Besides… we have all those people out there we gotta save in the next 48 hours."

"But… you can kill all of them alone… can't you?" I asked him, beginning to burst into tears.

"Are you kidding me? Fighting even one is tough for me… whether I have fast reflexes or not. If you die… I'll be wondering where the hell you would be when I need you the most."

What he said there did piss me off though… even if it was most likely meant to be a compliment.

"So you're saying that I should live just because you'll die quicker without me? All you need me for is just for yourself?" I snapped, now truly in tears.

"…Dash… no way. As a half brother, I definitely wouldn't risk you into battling them. But because everyone has a lot of faith in you… they believe that you're more than worth living. By the way… when I realized that you were my half brother back on that island, you know how proud I was to realize that I have a sibling that's very strong minded, clever and brave? It's a blessing for you really, you know? To have such awesome characteristics about you." He consoled me.

"B…but… my family… it was my fault that I couldn't protect them… if it wasn't for my naïve mind and no… no idea on how to defeat Alma in the first place… then… then this wouldn't have happened!! I… I… I'm too weak sir… I couldn't be like you and help everyone when I was needed!! I can't do anything… I… I…"

I was finally realizing that I was having an emotional breakdown, bursting into a large amount of tears and wondered what the hell I was good at… why… why did everything have to end up like this when it never could've happened… was it just… my fate?

I kneeled down, letting all the tears drop to the floor.

"Dash…!" The Point Man called, kneeling down and putting his hand on my shoulder to comfort.

"If I was clever and strong as you were… I… I would have changed and prevented this whole thing from happening…!" I cried.

"I don't quite think so…! At least you managed to save those Delta Force soldiers that crash landed to pick you up. I definitely couldn't have done that… so many SFOD-D soldiers sacrificed their lives when I was with them. Whether you were with me or whatsoever… I couldn't have prevented any shit from happening. So blame it on Alma and Fettel, eh." He added.

All I let out was a sigh.

* * *

Minutes later I finally calmed down, sitting at the couch with the Point Man.

"Just remember Dash… we all believe in you." He said while nodding. I nodded too, but with a sigh.

"Anyways… Dash… I'll tell you the rest of the story now… if you want me to."

I nodded again…

* * *

**Continue Flashback**

The Point Man slowly opened his eyes, and was feeling rather a little too dizzy. He clutched his head and lifted himself back up. He realized that he was in a large chamber… and shocked to see what was in there. All the Replica Soldiers were in here… this explained where they came from. He was glad they were all at their dormant state, so he decided to use this opportunity to kill them, but soon hesitated. He didn't have enough ammo to kill them all, and even then Fettel would control them sooner or later anyway.

"I see you're awake… brother."

Probably thinking about him just summoned him out of nowhere. He turned around and found Fettel… but one thing that surprised him was that one of eye socket was missing… rather the one missing was on his hand. His other eye suddenly popped broken, and blood poured all over. He squeezed his other eye on his hand it became nothing but a puddle of blood. It stained his hands. Fettel took the sip of his own blood.

"It doesn't matter whether I can see you or not… as long as I feel the presence, that is all that matters." The now socketless Fettel stated.

"Where is Helen…?" The Point Man blurted.

"Hm… Ms. Jackson… she's playing with my mother right now." Fettel merely laughed… the Point Man didn't take this seriously, and shot Fettel in the arm. It was bleeding and made a huge scar on his shoulder.

"Guess that can be the alternative answer… by the way… you should've taken my gun while you had the chance!" The Point Man boasted, grinning.

But ironically it was the insane cannibal that was laughing instead. His arm was cut off by itself, and from the hole on his tarso made, another arm was created and blood splattered on the process. It didn't matter to Fettel whether he lost blood or not, he was going to eat some more anyway. On the process his eyes were back in his socket once again.

The Point Man growled in frustration and this time shot Fettel in the head. He shot two more times to ensure that Fettel was killed once and for all. Then he found Fettel's dagger that he accidentally dropped on the floor and he stabbed it through his brain. This made his brain explode into bits.

"Good riddance, bro." He turned back, now that Fettel was dead for good. Even if Alma resurrected him, that dagger still exploded his brain into bits. There was no way he'd be back to life this time.

He then found a door that was labeled "Exit". He proceeded towards it and as he got near, he heard sounds from the other side. He kicked the door open and aimed his pistol straight. He heard laughter… a girl's laughter. It was Alma… for sure. This was not the first time he ever heard her giggle. He continued towards the next door… only to find a room filled with bloody foot prints. The Point Man followed it, knowing that Alma was in that room she went to.

But Alma was right in front of the door already.

On her one hand she carried Helen. It was just strange what she would want to do with her former elementary school mate…

"What do you want with her, Alma?" The Point Man barked, and refrained from shooting his gun in case he'd shoot Helen by accident.

"_I'm gonna play with her some more…_" Alma's voice was still heard, even if he never saw Alma's lips moving.

"Play? Hope you don't fall in love with her afterwards!" The Point Man insulted her but soon realized he shouldn't have done that. Alma pointed her other hand towards the unconscious Helen, ready to fire a ball of flame.

"_You know I have a thing with insults._"

Despite that answer she lit out the flame, and threw her back to the Point Man. He managed to catch her, but he also saw Alma clutching her head and screaming in pain…

"_Dash…! My first son… find… your… half… brother… he's in danger…_"

"Wh… what…? Half… brother?"

The Point Man was also confused… Dash was his half brother…? Well he did look somewhat like him. But he never recalled Dash trying to tell him this… Did he actually know about this?

Alma screams suddenly created an enormous laugh and forced him to cover his eyes…

Suddenly an image of a baby in a capsule was visible. After that it flashed to another image showing a scientist killing another scientist… presumably an ATC researcher. Then a young man picked up the baby and began to bring it to his home…

_What the fuck was that?_ He thought.

Alma's constant scream had brought a huge light and made a huge amount rubble fall down. Alma had dropped Helen and that was the Point Man's cue to pick her up, and find a way out. The only other doorway was blocked as it was filled with rubble. He had to stop Alma from screaming somehow…

But that was when another Alma came out of the Alma he saw. This one was the young one… with the red dress. She approached the Point Man and as she disappeared, all he saw was extremely bright light…

After that he was back in his own world…

"So… that means Dash was a clone of me… I guess that would explain why he has fast reflexes like I do from what I remember." The Point Man thought out loud.

"I see you escaped… and I'm not what you think I am… a dead man."

Fettel's voice was heard in his ear. But he was nowhere in sight from what he saw. Or that bastard was just hiding. But that was unlikely… if he was hiding he couldn't have heard him. But how was this guy _possibly _alive? He was sure he killed him completely without anyway for him to ressurect.

"Our half brother Dash has apparently escaped his fate. But that doesn't matter anymore… he will soon once again. It was four days ago since he have found out everything. Now… the remaining days will merely delay his doom. Everyone's doom… My puppets don't live in a world complete with the foolish."

His 'puppets' meant the Replicas… and if he said everyone's doom… **everyone**, not just Dash, and saying that in a world with foolish people, that meant Fettel was also going to wipe out every living species this planet had. And Dash and the half brother part also got to him, and he just had to see him and tell him about it. At least if he didn't know… but then again earlier he seemed pretty hesitant to ask him a question. Maybe Dash was aware of that fact.

"I'll see you very soon."

Fettel's presence was gone now… but when he looked at his hands Helen was gone too.

"Helen?? HELEN!"

_Where the fuck did she go now…?_ He wondered, _wherever you are, you better be safe… I failed enough missions and I don't want to face more misery later._

As he walked by he realized he was at the shore. There was a jet ski left behind… and they key was already inserted. Who would've thought of being so careless to leave his jet ski with his keys on?

But without hesitation, the Point Man started the vehicle and began driving it towards his destination. He had a half brother to meet… But the whole ride would take one day, so only two days to allow everyone know what was about to happen.

* * *

**End flashback**

"Wow… that must've been a rough trip for you." I replied to his whole story.

"Yeah… and Helen has disappeared. Hopefully Fettel didn't eat her up like he would most likely do to any victims." The Point Man expressed worry, but he was still as calm as ever. Maybe, just maybe, we can find her.

Just then I heard dad waking up from his yawning. I ran back upstairs to check things out in my room. There he was, struggling to get up from his bed.

"Dad! You okay?" I questioned, which I probably didn't need to ask because of his usual answer to that question.

"Yeah… Dash… sorry to have left you feeling deceived that day. I should've… done something." He tiredly replied.

"Not a problem! You couldn't have helped it. And uh… I hope you don't mind… the first prototype… he's in our house." I told him… I might as well, rather than giving him lots of explanation later.

"Ha ha… so long lost brothers finally meet, huh? Me and your mother were the only ones who knew about that. Not many people knew either… just the two of us. We raised you until now… so will you still… be with us as a family?" He asked.

"Of course… you raised me until today. I can't possibly leave my own family alone!" I replied.

And if it was possible, the Point Man could live with us. And besides… my family was the only group of people that I needed more than anyone else in the world. They raised me until the very end, and I cannot possibly thank them enough. If my mother was Alma, then my life would have been much different from the start.

"Thanks dad… for helping me all this time." I smiled, and said my thanks.

Dad yawned again and he was fast asleep once again… Dad… thank you. I'm glad you're still safe.

* * *

**To be continued…**

_**Not much actions scenes or whatsoever, I'll admit. But the next chapter will be just as emotional though… and after that I'll try to bring some actions out to this story. Until then, sayonara!**_


	25. An Unfair Farewell

_**Alright, the next chapter will have a huge war on the USA against the Replica soldiers. This chapter will be a bit more peaceful and less spooky than most chapters, but I tend to sometimes just have some chapters be action packed or creepily written. But this one is more of a dramatic chapter, since I seem to lack them. Anyways, please R&R!**_

**Chapter 25: An Unfair Farewell**

I left dad to rest more in my room… he was still way too tired to move right now. Or even EAT. It was around dinner time by now, and since my dad was sleeping… and neither me or the Point Man could cook, we either had to order pizza or go to a restaurant. One of those… FOR SURE.

"_I'll be waiting…_"

I just heard her voice again… her… as in none other than Alma.

I couldn't believe I forgot about her! I couldn't possibly leave dad while I can still hear Alma's voice… that obviously meant she was in my house somewhere!! I had to protect dad… he was in too weak condition to defend himself.

I went downstairs to inform the Point Man, who was relaxingly sitting on the couch as he brushed his hair with his hands.

"Sir…!! I just heard Al-"

Before I could finish he cut me off, "Alma… I heard her too. Don't mind what she said… I know what she means. I'm used to the way she talks. She's just waiting for us in 2 days she's saying."

"…Are you sure…?" I tried to confirm, and the response I got was a nod.

"It's obvious… why would she wait for us when she can just come in here and do whatever she pleases with us?"

I guess that made sense. What he said was true… she was strong enough to kill us barely lifting a finger. She could just kill us now if she wanted… she killed so many people like the Freddericks and the SFOD-D soldiers without hesitation or with a warning.

That's when we hear our stomach growl. I mean loud. And when two stomachs growl at once, they're loud enough to fill one whole room.

"Ah… heh heh…" I embarrassingly laughed as he laughed back a little as well.

* * *

Leaving dad a note on the dinner table, I got dressed up in normal civilian clothes while the Point Man just took off his bullet proof vest, only wearing his army outfit. We left and decided to just eat in any restaurant we can find. We decided to take a bus again…

"Hey Dash?" The Point Man called me as I turned back to him, "you don't have to keep calling me the Point Man or SIR if you don't want to… I don't really have a name, really… guess Alma should've thought of that huh?"

"Well… what can I call you then? Killing Machine?" I joked.

"Maybe… a Dork Original?" He joked back, "How about… Dash Sr.? And I can refer to you as Dash Jr."

"Yeah, guess that works… we ARE identical after all… but then again I guess I can say sir talking to you and refer you to Dash Sr… cuz calling Dash Sr. in front of a person can be…"

"Oh whatever! Ha ha ha!!" He teased, "Nerd".

I just laughed it off... can't really argue with him now can I.

* * *

When the bus arrived we took our seats. I just looked outside the window while the Point Man leaned on the window and relaxed his head there. He wasn't sleeping at least… I had to go through all the trouble waking up again otherwise. Still… there were a lot of things I was thinking about… too many.

When we arrived we got off the bus and headed towards a restaurant me and my family would go at times. It was fast food… which can be pretty unhealthy, especially for preparing a huge fight happening around the entire city, but when being too hungry no one would care whether the food is nutritious or not. The restaurant was usually crowded, but today there was less people than I thought. But that also meant there were more than enough seats for us.

All we ordered were hamburgers, fries, and cups of coke.

"Well Dash, I gotta give you credit, I was about to die of hunger while I was at the bus. You're a life saver, y'know?" He commented.

"That'd be my line, sir. If it wasn't for you I would've died from those Replicas we fought today." I replied.

"… Now we're even." The Point Man sarcastically said, simply joking.

But all of a sudden I was in no mood for joking, thanks to what I thought about in the bus. But I put out a fake laugh just to keep the mood lightened up.

That's when the food came, though. Both of us started eating, but I took small bites every 1 minute thinking about my friends and family… I'll probably never see them again, and they didn't even know that I'll be involved in this war.

"Hey Dash… what's up? I finished just a while ago…" He said.

"Huh? Oh! It's… it's nothing!" I replied and ate more quickly just to make sure the Point Man didn't think suspiciously of me.

* * *

When we finished and paid, we decided to walk back home… we may have needed an exercise the way home.

"Sir… I'm just curious… when you were in my age, were you trained to be an ATC super soldier throughout your life or were you like me, going to school like any other kids?" I asked.

"I can't say… But I remember a little of both. I studied a lot and trained my strength on the same margin. But then again… I hardly ever had anything fun to do unlike you. I mean when you were a kid you got to have fun and all sorts right?" He stated.

"Yeah… I remember when my… parents…" I somewhat hesitantly said parents… I didn't know what else to call them, since technically they weren't… "usually took me to my favourite amusement parks and whatnot… I had lots of fun those times. But I certainly hope my grandfather or you don't mind me not being like the other ATC prototypes, right? Trained to be either a psychic or a super human… Because I can't be one of those." I added.

"It doesn't matter, you know? As much as that I thought I was not normal in a bad way, thinking that being all mighty would have other people thinking of me in a freaky way. But then again… I realized I was a lady's man back in my high school. You get my point, right? Whether being more than just an ordinary human or not has it's goods and bads." He replied as he stretched.

"Well… I guessed you had a lot of friends back then."

"Sure, I guess. They all thought that I was smart, courageous, strong; both in mind and body. Which I think is the same for you, don't ya think?"

"Not really… I couldn't have faced Alma all by myself. I was a bit too afraid to see her… and I'm both mentally and physically weak. If I was smart…"

"Cut the crap about the family… will ya? Like I said, it was nothing you could've prevented."

"Well… my friends too. I mean, I never told them that I'd be involved to this whole incident."

"Well… maybe you should. Because if… **if**… you wouldn't survive… you wouldn't live to regret not telling them about it, would ya? Besides… it's not like they'll sue or kill you or anything once they know, is it?"

I nodded in agreement… he was right. I should tell them… I couldn't conceal my secret forever. But how can I possibly tell them to make them understand?

I just… had to... say that. That's all I had to do. Just say it...

* * *

After we dropped by our house, I realized that dad was still too tired and was still sleeping. The Point Man decided that it was a great time to take a shower. He hasn't gotten himself clean since he was left on that island alone. Meanwhile I decided to relax for at least ten minutes as well before heading out to tell my friends. I turned on the television… something I haven't done for quite a while. The last thing I watched was the news… and speaking of the news maybe I could watch that.

"…and the US government have actually announced that every citizens were at risk from those assailants that attacked Armacham Headquarters months ago. The president of the corporation has recently sent a news that over 20,000 employees have died during the incident. And it was later confirmed that they were murdered by the prototype clones created from the very corporation itself. The captain of the F.E.A.R. team, Rowdy Betters, as well as Commander Shepherd from the U.S army Delta Force have said the soldiers have planned a rampage to attack the entire city at all costs. After hearing this the president has issued every citizens in the city to evacuate as quickly as possible. He has prepared a cruise ship to Canada for safety. It was alleged that other cities in the US would cause more drastic measures than expected, therefore they have planned a city outside of United States."

The news reporter told the news extremely briefly. I changed the channel to another news channel, where Betters and the Delta Force commander Shepherd were being interviewed. I realized that it was JUST starting…

* * *

**The interview…**

(A/N: I decided to have this part as a script form. It's tiring to say he said she said that person said all the time… anyways, this is what's telling what Dash is watching)

Questionnaire: Thank you for coming, gentlemen, we've just heard the news of what's got in store for us in the next two days… I'm just wondering… What plan do you have to combat this certain threat? Because other US army officers are aware and watching this channel, waiting for your answer…

Shepherd: We plan whatever it takes to get rid of those test tube bastards… I'm sending every men I have as of now to counter back this threat.

Betters: Yes and in fact the police department have given us a phone call a few hours ago, saying that they will send all they have to assist.

Shepherd: Not to mention the SWAT team as well… they have insisted to be involved.

Questionnaire: And you have a certain plan to neutralize these soldiers? Because as we know the numbers are overwhelming, and once again the US army officers who are watching are waiting for your response to this.

Betters: Well it wouldn't be easy, but the president has ordered us to set up bombs around the city and set them up in case the attack fails.

Shepherd: But it's quite doubtful there will be a reason to use those. We're getting prepared and ready for everything we must face. Tanks, aircrafts, you name it. But they may also outnumber us in many ways… they may have tanks, they may have choppers to drop bombs… we definitely can't expect anything easy from this.

Questionnaire: Well… and supposedly it's going to happen the day after tomorrow. What sort of plans will be made tomorrow? Which is the day before the assault.

Shepherd: We'll first meet up with the chief of the police department, and Lieutenant Kennedy to send in all his men as well as…

* * *

The Point Man approached behind me with a white t-shirt and jeans, drying his hair with a towel.

"Heh… so the news is spreading isn't it. Guess a whole lot of people would be packing by now." The Point Man stated as he finished drying his hair.

"Yeah…" I replied as I switched off the T.V.

"Dash… maybe you should talk to your friends about what's going on with you right now… like face to face." The Point Man reminded me… I tried to say something back, but couldn't think of any. Instead, I gave a sigh and a little nod. I left the house, but not before taking a short glance at the Point Man for a bit more confidence. These could be my last days alive… and I won't see all those I valued once more if it was to be.

* * *

First, to tell Katie… even if I'd talk to her last, it still wouldn't matter anyway. I had to talk to her more or less… it was too long ago from now since we last met. After walking slowly for the past few minutes, thinking of how to explain this to her, I finally got the courage to knock on the door and wait for her… The response I got was from Katie…

"Oh…! Dash! What brings you here? We were… packing." She surprisingly greeted.

"Well… I have something I gotta tell ya." I replied hesitantly.

"…Yes Dash?"

"I… I…" I couldn't bear seeing her reaction. She was smiling right now, happy to see me. Her smiles were what usually made my days better… what helped me remember that I should be glad to be alive. Breaking her smile was almost like a sin to me…

"You have to believe me about this… and I'm sorry I couldn't tell you but… I… I might not make it." I explained briefly.

"Wh…what are you saying? Of course you will!! You told me you'll never be apart from me!"

"I… I joined the army… and I… have to fight…"

There was a pause… for obvious reasons. She was shocked just to hear the first sentence. She felt hopeless and only bursted in tears…

"You…You're kidding right? Tell me this is a joke, Dash!! It's not funny!" She cried.

"I'm sorry… Kate. I just… couldn't tell you. I… I…"

"Dash…!! Please!! Don't go!! You promised not to leave me! I… I can't live without you Dash…"

"It's my duty, as an officer. Katie… in case this is our last time seeing each other… I… I still and always love you.."

After that we hugged tightly, as she bursted in tears. I was near that stage too, but I had to stay strong… but I'd miss her a lot…

I'm sorry Kate. But please understand how much I am going through.

* * *

After my possible final goodbye to Kate, she told my other friends about what was going on. They all visited my house afterwards, along with her, and told me "Be the man!" and insisted to come back alive and never leave them. I didn't really prefer her telling everyone about this, but I guess I couldn't blame her about it. I had to tell them that I had to fight anyway.

The day went by pretty quick. That day leaders of those parties who were to battle the next day had a huge meeting to plan out the attack. The meeting really took five hours, according to Betters. But the meeting was really the time for those men who were going to fight to get their weapons ready. While that was happening, everyone else who weren't to be fighting fled to Canada for now, since the USA would be the Replicas' first target. Even if Canada was to be their possible second target, it would take longer to go to other places like Asia or Europe. By the time they went there, the Replicas would've located the ship and annihilate it.

But a surprising thing was that the cruise ship was actually ready long time ago in case something like this would've happened to fit every citizen in the city. The only we probably would have to worry about was if the Replicas would locate it and destroy it. But by the time they probably arrive, or while we battle, the ship would make it to its destination, so chances of them finding the ship was slim to probably none.

Betters also told the team that the ATC security guards that survived months ago would also help us. Apparently during the meeting, Ms. Aristide have requested to come in and say that even the company responsible for creating this massive incident had the sense of guilt and must undo their own wrongdoing. Ms. Aristide was later questioned for releasing Fettel just to test the F.E.A.R. Point Man. I still remembered what Ms. Kwon told me about that… and I guess she would get arrested for doing such thing. And they also mentioned her ordering to kill her own employees for spreading news to the media. But everyone decided to put her on trial after all this was over. At least the ATC combat forces were allowed to assist. That was a good thing… But the Replicas would probably outnumber us.

It was 7 PM… five hours until the attack. At 12 AM the city would be in utter chaos.

I looked around my house the last time. I lived here since… when I was a baby. But now the memories would be gone. Being in my room looking at photo albums of the past, I saw some happy moments with my family. They brought a single tear to my eye…

Afterwards I ate some sandwich my dad fixed before he left to the ship as well.

But mom and my sis… where were they…

I heard someone breathing… a girl. I turned around and found nobody in my house. The breathing sounded like someone was crying as well… But who was it…? It… just sounded so familiar, yet it was just…

"Dash!!"

Richard called over as he came over to the front door of my house.

"Richard…!"

"The F.E.A.R. team is going to have a meeting in an hour. We should hurry, hm?"

I nodded, but soon afterwards I said "Hang on" to go back to my room and pick my assault rifle up. Afterwards we left my house and while so I looked at the exterior of my house the last time… and soon I followed Richard. Goodbye… sweet memories.

* * *

Walking in the streets was way too quiet. TOO quiet. It was now only seven-thirty PM, and the streets would be super crowded even by that time. Now it seemed like a ghost town…

"Dash! Richard!!"

The F.E.A.R. Point Man ran over to us… what was he doing around?

"Betters just contacted me… about the meeting. We should get going, eh?"

"Sir, may I ask what you were doing…?" I asked.

"Just looking if there's anyone left in the city... Guess this city is perfect for a ghost town, isn't it?" He replied jokingly.

The trio of us continued walking to the HQ. Oh man, if there were any buses or taxis available this would've been easier. We couldn't possibly jack them, and even if we did we needed keys to activate them.

But the Point Man at least knew his way there, so we were in luck. But it would still be a long walk… no doubt.

* * *

By 9 PM we arrived at the F.E.A.R. headquarters, and a few SFOD-D soldiers were outside, getting their weapons ready. Not to mention trucks, helicopters, and even tanks… now that I never knew they had. But then again who would bring a tank to infiltrate a building? Maybe to destroy the place, but then with all those information of ATC's wrongdoing and hostages in there, who would use a tank to obliterate that place?

Once we headed inside and went to the meeting room with everyone else in there, the three of took seats…

"We recently tracked the Replicas in each different parts of the city. The police department will take the Downtown while the SWAT team has scattered to battle things out in the docks, airport, and the west part of the city. Alpha Squad will take on the north, Bravo Squad on the east, and Team Charlie will back up the ATC security. They're currently investigating the Auburn area." SFOD-D commander told us of the situation.

"Holiday, you lead the Alpha Squad while Jankowski leads Bravo. We'll leave the Point Man leading Charlie Squad…" Betters added afterwards, "Dash, you go with Alpha team. Richard, you assist Bravo."

We had four more hours now… until we engage in combat. Everyone readied their weapons and choppers, and trucks for ammo supplies and for transport. I filled up as much ammo as I could to my rifle while in the armory, but also decided to take a handgun as a sidearm in case I would run out of ammo or if I don't have time to reload. Then all I had to do was to wait until 12 AM and when everyone else were ready. This was a fight for everyone's lives… both for my family, friends, and everyone else in not just this country, but this entire world.

* * *

Hours have passed… I looked back at the clock… it was now 11:45 PM. Just fifteen minutes remaining… That was when Holiday shouted "Get in!!", pointing at the transport truck. I was the first to get in and soon the rest of the Alpha Squad entered. Holiday was the last person to get in, and he closed the door. The truck driver started the engine and I could feel it moving…

"Alright… men! Those test tube mother fuckers won't mess with the US, am I wrong? Because if I am, the country we know as the United States would've been screwed long time ago!! We may have been ass kicked by those fags before, but this time we'll be different. We're gonna show 'em that all we can give is a belly full of lead, and a pool of their own blood to drown in!!!!! AM I RIGHT, ALPHA SQUAD?" Holiday stated encouragingly, as the other soldiers replied with "SIR, YES SIR!"

"Damn straight. Let's mow em all down to hell when we get our eyes on them!!" Holiday shouted with encouragement, and everyone cheered as well.

The battle for life or death… it was approaching.

* * *

**To be continued…**

_**I took a LOT of breaks writing this chapter. At some point of writing I got so tired while writing I made grammar mistakes and probably screwed up this chapter horribly. And since recently my relative was hospitalized, I cared about her more than writing a fanfic you see.**_

_**And last thing to mention, school is coming up!! My rules of the house is that I'm only allowed to use the computer on weekends, and since it takes a while for me to write each chapter, my ability to update this fic is pretty much limited now. So don't expect update that often. But that does NOT mean I can no longer update this fic any longer. Still, it won't be often for me. Damn school…**_

_**Oh well… hope you enjoy the rest of the summer!**_


	26. Faceoff at the City

_**Oh dear god, it's been so long since I updated! Yeah, yeah, blame me on my laziness...**_

_**But recently one of my relatives passed away, not to mention a bad start on school so far (trying to improve right now, even with this huge amount of stress), family problems, going through tough time with one of my close friends (argument so to speak), and my parents not home as of right now (mom and dad are still out of the country, because we had to attend grandmother's funeral but because school started I couldn't go... they'll be back soon though!), so you can obviously tell a huge amount of pressure I'm going through right now. I would've asked for a hiatus, but because I took too long I decided to update more or less.**_

_**Thank you very much for waiting... Enjoy the chapter.**_

**Chapter 26****: Faceoff at the City**

It was close to midnight, I still couldn't sleep. Everyone on this truck were battling for their lives, for their future, and for the safety of every human being living in this world. The United States as of right now were at stake, if we lost this battle here more and more casualties would erupt. And casualties are not something USA ever wants to see.

But above all that, all I wished for was to see my friends and family again.

Sometimes I regretted joining F.E.A.R... whether I have connections with Alma or not. If I had, maybe I wouldn't have been involved with this monstrous war against the Replica Soldiers Fettel was controlling but if I didn't have any connections with Alma at all, then none of this shit probably wouldn't have happened at all.

Mom... dad... just where are you? Please tell me you're alive... safe and sound... I don't want to miss any valuable person in my life... I want to see them until I become an old person.

"TARGET IN SIGHT!! PREPARE TO ENGAGE!!" The truck driver shouted using the microphone, and the doors soon opened and I stepped off, getting ready for my possible final battle in my life.

"Dash, watch our six!! The rest of you cover me!!" Holiday ordered as he began to shoot the Replica soldiers ahead of us, using the truck as the cover. The driver also fought, throwing grenades from the opened window. However, after he threw a couple or so they shot him, but luckily taking out a number of them in the process. That was when another man died from a sniper.

"We got two men down!!" A soldier warned as he continued to shoot until his gun ran out of ammo. As he tried to reload he was shot from behind. Some turned around and found nothing was sneaking behind them, but suddenly another one was shot down.

"Sniper at 3 o clock!! Someone take him out!!" Holiday ordered as he spun back around and continued to fire back at the Replica soldiers ahead.

I turned to the direction and spotted a Replica from a motel balcony. Lowering my eyes I aimed upwards and fired my rifle towards his head, and the Replica died with a faint scream.

"Fuck, more of them!!" Another SFOD-D cursed as he tossed another grenade. It was a lucky throw, as it managed to take out about fifteen of them at once. But more just kept coming.

But thankfully two police cars came and from there eight policemen came out, immediately aiming their weapons towards the Replicas. They brought out their fire power against them and more and more Replicas downed.

"Sorry for coming without a warning, SFOD-D alpha team. There are still few survivors from the police department, but they've scattered to assist other teams." One of the police informed as he reloaded his shotgun.

Holiday motioned the others to keep firing, and asked him, "But is the area secure now?"

"No, though we managed to take out a fair amount. But we were forced to retreat when there was still more left and we were outnumbered afterwards. Only seventeen out of thirty five of us survived."

"I see. We'll help you along from here. Now help us kick some test tube mofo's ass!" Holiday replied as the police brought more and more gunfire to the Replicas. The progress for the alpha team and the police survivors were great so far, but heaven knows whether they'll send backup.

The battle was a total chaos. It was only a few minutes, and most of the buildings were on flames or in bad shape. Even cars nearby were in horrible condition. But there was just nothing we could do about this.

"Take cover!!" Holiday ordered as he leaned over the truck and continued his attack.

"GRENADE!!" One of the police bellowed and tossed one, and blew up more Replica soldiers.

The Replicas were now short on numbers, and they decided to retreat. However, a chopper dropped off more Replica soldiers, though not as surprising as we thought. With my quick reflexes I shot at least two zip lining down. But that wasn't enough. Only few Replicas came down, but this time along with one of those huge tanks I fought at the island... R.E.V.E.

It fired several rockets and the blast took five SFOD-D soldiers and two police men.

"What the fuck is that thing?" Holiday cried as he fired back and threw more grenades on the way, and it didn't even scratch the R.E.V.E.

One of the SFOD-D soldiers took a rocket launcher that was in the weapon supply box from the truck. He charged and fired as many rockets as he could. Another one followed him, and threw a grenade under a car near the R.E.V.E. It exploded and flew towards the tank, and while the car was still there the other soldier fired another set of rockets. The remaining engines in the car made an even bigger explosion, fully destroying the tank but also killing the two soldiers with it.

However, the area was finally clear... for now at least.

"Status report!" Bravo team leader Jankowski said from the comm. Link.

"This is Holiday. We've cleared the area, how you holding up?"

"We've cleared this area as well, but we lost most of our soldiers. It's just me, Richard, and another SFOD-D remaining."

"Understood. We'll rendezvous at Central Park." Holiday planned as he motioned to the alpha team survivors to start moving. We just had to be careful of what might attack us when we least suspected it.

Just then the Comm. Link beeped again...

"MAY DAY, MAY DAY!! The Charlie team's chopper is shot down!! Bracing for impact!!"

The Point Man...!! He was in Charlie Team... What the hell could be happening to him??

He could be my only possible family remaining if something happened to mom and dad... he had to be alright!! He just had to be!!

"Alright, once we reunite with Bravo Team our goal is to find what's remained of Charlie Team. Let's move out!!" Holiday ordered as the survivors nodded... but I looked back to see Alma looking at us. But after a split second she disappeared. I would've told Holiday about that, but no one would believe me since she's now gone... damn.

Just then we were attacked by surprise while we were still walking there. The surprise gunfire killed two men... and soon the Replicas hiding from the trees came out and began their all out attack.

"Fuck!!" Holiday cursed as he fired back at them. With no places to take cover in, even my reflexes weren't going to be all the helpful. It would help me dodge, but if I took cover I wouldn't have to move as much dodging.

"You want a piece of me??" A SFOD-D soldier recklessly ran towards the Replica Soldiers and rapidly shot his Sub Machinegun, falling a few of those soldiers. However, at the cost of his life he was also shot down.

"GRENADE!" I bellowed and everyone on my way moved out of the way and I tossed one. But the Replicas also saw it coming, and they also jumped out of the way except one, who was too slow and got blown to pieces... but by accident I also killed a police officer as well.

"_Sorry sir..._" I whispered and continued my gunfire against them.

"Dash, we have no time to apologize for friendly fire... just come out and shoot these damn things out of our way!!" Holiday scoldingly ordered as I continued to do so.

"We got more of them coming in!! We should call for backup!!" A SFOD-D soldier suggested as he shot a Replica down.

"But it wouldn't make a difference! By the time they're extracted here they'd be dead!" Another SFOD-D man went against the idea, shooting another Replica down as well.

Just then a Replica threw a grenade at them. Once it dropped to the ground, the two Delta Force soldiers were nothing more than a pile of blood. Getting thoroughly frustrated, I also threw mine, killing about 5 Replicas. There were only two left. Now outnumbered, they seized their attack and shouted, "Let's get the fuck out of here!!"

They fled to a different place... even I couldn't judge where in the world they could be going.

"At least some of us are still alive... now let's rendezvous with Jankowski." Holiday ordered.

We moved on, but I couldn't help but worry if the Point Man... Or Dash Sr. Was alright.

**To be continued...**

_**Thanks for being patient, I'm still undergoing an overwhelming amount of stress... the next update will be up god knows when though.**_


	27. My Existance

_**All right, here's the next chapter. Updating is a really hard thing to do at this time, but I guess getting reviews from my fellow fans of this story would help me feel better... if this chapter is good.**_

* * *

__

**Chapter 27: My existence**

Mom... dad... sisters... Katie... and Point Man...

Hope you are all okay. I don't want to have a moment of having to miss you all...

* * *

The squad proceeded their rendezvous point with the Bravo team. Their signals got stronger and stronger... And seeing anyone still alive was what I would definitely want to see. At an all out war like this finding _any_ survivors would be unusual.

Just then Holiday picked up a radio transmission from the headquarters... I turned on my Comm. Link on to listen...

"Holiday, do you read me? This is Echo Three... we lost contact with the HQ, but they found important information before the transmission got cut off."

"Fill me in." Holiday replied, looking like a little child wanting to learn ABC.

"Apparently the Replicas are still surrounding the entire city... You and Bravo Team may have cleared the areas you've been assigned to take, but more and more are coming their way towards the locations you've been to."

Holiday, now angry, cursed, "Fuck! Well what else did they tell ya? The Replicas suck dick?"

"Well they tried telling us that the more Replicas are coming from a certain lab near Auburn hospital. But just as they said that the transmission got jacked... quite possibly by those freaks."

"Understood... and order Zulu Team to rendezvous at the Auburn Hospital as well. We'll try looking for the laboratory together."

"Roger. Echo Three out."

Holiday put his radio back on to his belt and ordered the entire squad, "alright people, we're going to find Bravo Team and look for any Charlie Team survivors at Auburn! Let's move!"

Holiday cautiously walked forwards with me beside him, while everyone else watched our six.

Just then we heard bushes moving... we all aimed our weapons towards it and waited for any enemies to attack...

"Hold your fire!"

Jankowski's voice really relieved me... here I thought more Replicas would come trying to kill us.

"Jan! Good to see you... but where's Rich?" Holiday questioned.

"Well... he decided to investigate the area on his own for a bit. I don't know what's came up with him, but he insisted to take a look around by himself."

Man, I was wishing Richard would come with us... And I couldn't possibly leave him there alone when anything could attack him...

"Sir, I'm going to look for him. I'll go and check how things are going for him." I replied, determined.

"Dash, are you crazy? God knows when that freaky girl might fuck you up." Jankowski protested, with a frown, yet a puzzled face.

"Sorry sir, but Richard and I somewhat go back a long way..." I defended.

"...Alright then. But if anything comes up, contact me ASAP." He gave in, and nodded at Holiday who also agreed.

"Okay, move soldiers!! We don't anymore of those test tube freaks coming our way!" The Delta Force leader shouted as everyone else followed him.

* * *

I strolled the other way, however, for some reason I regretted protesting against Jankowski's orders. But still, Richard was a fellow teammate... I couldn't afford to see him die.

I turned my flashlight on, being full aware of an odd presence. I felt Richard was nearby too...well maybe. He could be alive or dead, because heaven knows whether Alma or Fettel, or several Replicas may have attacked him...

"Patrols report."

Shit! Replicas were even taking care of this area... Richard... you better be alright.

"Nothing in sight."

_Yeah... nothing in sight my ass..._ I thought as I pulled a remote bomb I got from F.E.A.R. HQ.

"I heard something!"

I walked up to their sight... and waited for them aim at me.

"Threat sighted!"

But I put my thumb on the remote... "Au revoir!" I replied as I pushed.

The explosion killed most of the Replicas in sight... the dust remaining forced them to shield their eyes, and considering the fact that they couldn't see, I thought of throwing another one, but I didn't realize a Replica was hiding behind a tree that was behind me all along and tackled me, and my back was facing him. He then grabbed my arms and hand-cuffed my wrists.

_Shit!_

"Good job... wait until the commander gets here and finish him off."

If they meant commander... that obviously meant Fettel. And there was obviously one thing he was good at... eating people's flesh. Oh man I should've watched my back sooner...

"Hostile located!! Go after him!!" Another squad of Replicas shouted... and they were chasing someone else...

Richard.

"Richard!!!" I tried calling him as I tried to move, but with hands bound there was hardly anything I could do, not to mention earning a kick in the stomach by another soldier.

"Shut the fuck up!"

I thought of an idea... but I had to time things correctly if this plan would work smoothly.

"Make me!" I talked back and stuck out my tongue.

The Replica, now furious, aimed his weapon at me. I took this opportunity to lower my eyes for the reflexes to come to effect, and I rolled as he fired his gun. I was fortunate enough that it didn't really hit me, but it shot the chains, and I was free.

"Sayonara, sucker!" I insulted and threw a grenade, killing all the Replicas that got me.

But Richard was in trouble...!! I had to find him quickly... I remembered seeing him getting chased by those bastards earlier. But they're way ahead of me... he needed my assistance more than anything!

* * *

Running as fast as I could to the direction where Richard fled to, I heard screaming... and gunshots.

"RICHARD!!" I bellowed, readying my weapon to fight the Replicas ahead.

However, I was surprised to find that most of the Replicas were shot down by Richard, but he still had bruises all over him. Well, at least he had his armour to protect himself as best as he could of course.

I snuck up on one Replica soldier and stabbed his back with my camping knife. He dropped dead to the ground, as Richard took the opportunity to shoot another one out. Soon we cleared the area.

"Richard... are you okay?" I asked, looking at the injuries he suffered through.

"Yeah... I'll live. Some bullet proof vest this is..." Richard complained as he grasped some of the wounds he had with one of his hands.

Suddenly we noticed a cabin nearby... but what would a cabin do at a place like this?

"Hey, let's take a short refuge over there." I suggested as Richard reluctantly nodded... even if we were in a mission, one soldier would need a little rest before battling again. A wounded soldier I might add.

We opened the front door, and doing so revealed a house that probably hasn't even been lubricated for a long time. Spider webs were everywhere, broken chairs and tables around, and only a mere mattress. I turned the light nearby on and a very very week bulb came on. I might as well use a flashlight... that was better than an old light bulb.

"Alright Richard... rest here for a bit..."

I sat next to him, who laid down on the mattress. At least it was soft.

I looked around the walls and saw a family portrait... and on it was a rather VERY familiar girl... It was strange though... it looked just like Alma... or maybe it really was Alma.

Wait... but why would a picture including Alma be in a dumpster like this? Come to think of it, this place was probably abandoned for quite a long time... wouldn't she be living here instead of always going out, scaring her own sons?

There was also a bookcase... but only one book waws placed on it. I reached out for it and took a look...

* * *

_**ALMA'S DIARY**_

**September 5****th****, 1975**

_School should be fun! I think I'll make new friends and do just well in school... daddy kept telling me to try my best. That's exactly what I can do too!_

**September 20****th** **1975**

_I thought school would be a place full of happiness... but I don't think daddy lied to me... maybe he just didn't know a bad school day was coming!_

**November 1****st****, 1975**

_Do kids go to school so they can be miserable everyday? I hate school, I HATE IT! Nobody likes me!! And teachers think I'm weird and stupid! I hate this world!_

**December 25****th****, 1975**

_Daddy promised me he would get something I wanted for Christmas... but I never got anything I wanted. I only got socks, pencils, erasers, and notebooks. How could daddy do this to me?_

**March 9****th****, 1976**

_Why can't school get any better from now on... mommy and daddy are sad too... are they sad because I am?_

**March 27****th****, 1976**

_Daddy made me drop out of school, and he said we might be moving... would moving schools be any better?_

**May 2****nd****, 1976**

_A bunch of men with strange clothings that said ATC came to our house... I heard yelling between my dad and another woman, but when I saw that someone came to me and tied me up with ropes, and brought me to this... what daddy called prison. Could this be a better place than school?_

**May 4****th****, 1976**

_These people kept me tied up on a chair for days... they fed me some disgusting foods and water. They untied me every now and then so I can write on this diary... but I wanna know where mommy and daddy are!_

**May 7****th****, 1976**

_They finally untied me... I thought this would take forever. I finally met my daddy... and he looked upset. What happened to him? Did bullies make fun of him or something?_

**May 30****th****, 1976**

_Daddy said they wanted to use me on what they called "experiment". I never heard what that was... was it a game they wanted me to play?_

**June 10****th****, 1976**

_Today I was really humiliated... these people took my clothing off to study something off of me. What were they thinking? Don't they know a girl will be humiliated by something like this?_

**June 29****th****, 1976**

_Daddy told me that I was what he called... psychic. I didn't know what that meant... but they also thought I was ill. He said it something to do with my head... what did he mean?_

**July 25****th****, 1976**

_I got a lollypop today! A doctor wanted to talk to me about something... she asked me how I felt... she understood me really well._

**November 11****th****, 1976**

_I asked daddy if I can get out of this place soon... all they did was ask me some questions, study something about me, and never let me go home..._

**December 1****st****, 1976**

_I met my older cousin today. Her name was Alice. She seemed like a nice person, and we talked a lot. But later she became a little mean... she ignored what I really wanted to ask her... all sorts of things. She's a big fat meanie!_

**December 3****rd****, 1976**

_Daddy said I was going through what was considered "period" for all the time I was here. I would make a new baby... but I thought only mothers made them!_

**January 24****th****, 1977**

_A new baby was brought in... and daddy said it was all thanks to me. However, he soon told some men to bring me to a place called the Vault. The men tied me up again... and I was dragged to someplace I didn't want to be in._

**February 22****nd****, 1977**

_Another baby was dragged out... I decided to name him Paxton._

* * *

That was all the diary said... it concluded just there. Well, some dates were torn out for some apparent reasons, heaven knows why. Maybe Alma went berserk about school or ATC treating her like shit. But who was Paxton... unless if Paxton was Fettel's last name, only the Point Man would know who this guy was. But it most likely _was_ Fettel. He was the second prototype, according to Ms. Kwon, and in the diary there were two babies mentioned... and the second one was named Paxton.

But one thing was clear. This cabin belonged to the Wades... but why they abandoned this place is still a mystery. Where was Alma's mother when ATC abducted her? Or what happened to her when Alma was gone?

Just then my comm. Link blinked. I answered it... it was Holiday.

"Holiday to Dash... what the fuck is going on there? It's been almost 30 minutes since our last transmission! In this mission god knows when Alma would do god knows what!"

"Apologies captain. I found Richard, but he's been wounded quite severely. We should prep him for evac." I answered.

"Negative private... the line's still not jack free. But we've made contact to the nearest chopper investigating any human survivors in the city. He'll bring Jin over from the base. We've just arrived to the Auburn Area... we're gonna look for any survivors from the onslaught. Here are my orders; find your way to Auburn as well, but eliminate any Replica Soldiers in your way. We don't want any surprise attacks from our back."

"Understood. We'll head over there right away." I replied, and I cut off the comm. Link.

"Richard, we better get outta here... Ms. Kwon is gonna fix you up."

"Well that's awesome news... I just hope no Replicas come in our way." Richard grunted as he got up, picking up his shotgun.

We soon got out of the cabin, only to find that we were surrounded by a huge amount of Replica soldiers.

* * *

**To be continued...**

_**Originally, I was going to have Richard die in this chapter, but I gave it some thoughts and decided to either prolong his life until later on or just not have him killed at all.**__**.. but that will soon be decided.**_

_**So for your reviews, I'd like some opinions on whether you want Richard to die or not. I was also planning to kill off Jankowski, Holiday, and Jin, but that'll somewhat complicate the storyline for me so I killed that idea. So I prefer whether you guys tell me if you want Richard dead or not. But the final decision will be mine... I simply want your opinions.**_

_**Anyways... R&R!!!**_


	28. Surrounded

_**Okay, hope you like this one. I decided keep Richard alive as well... but god knows when I might just change**__** his fate someday. And yes, for those of you who saw my profile, the third story WILL be called Alma's Sorrow. I MAY consider continuing with a fourth sequel afterwards, which is very, very, VERY unlikely.**_

_**Anyways, huge apologies for the extremely long wait. But I had to go to one of my closest friend's birthday party, and had to buy her a present, and outside of my friend's birthday party stuff lately I got low test marks and got really pissed off about them so I just didn't feel like updating lately. But what's more important is I updated and that's all there is to it.**_

_**Enjoy.

* * *

**_

**Chapter 28: Surrounded**

"Well, Dash, it was your idea to get us into this mess... any suggestions?" Richard grunted in annoyance, staring at the Replicas in shock. He fidgeted with his shotgun, probably having trouble thinking whether to attack them back or not.

"I don't know, but I guess the safest course of action would be just going back inside..." I whispered so none of the Replicas heard my plan.

We speedily jumped our way back to the cabin, and locked the door. But we heard Replicas banging on it, shooting on it, and even tried smacking the windows opened. I moved a piece of furniture to the door so it wouldn't open, no matter how powerful the gunfire was. Unless if they used an explosive, it should buy us some time to think of a way to escape safely.

"Quick, let's hide in the bathroom!" Richard planned as I also followed, and both of us locked the bathroom door as well, turning the lights on. It was weak but better than nothing...

"Alright... there's gotta be some way or something to get us out of here... those guys could blow us into bits with little to no effort!" I whispered.

"I don't know... they have us surrounded, from front to back. I can hear them on all four sides." Richard replied softly.

"Let's try contacting the squad..."

"Are you crazy? They can't kill all those soldiers out there! That's suicide!"

"Well, we could request an evac chopper..."

"The line's been jacked."

"...Damn. Well we might as well let Holiday know what's going on anyway."

I turned the comm. Link on, and waited for Holiday to respond. All I heard was static... a very loud static to be precise.

"Dash..." Richard softly called as he pointed at the direction to the bathtub...

The curtain opened... and revealed a girl that was too familiar.

Alma.

But her appearance was that of the young one that wore the red dress instead of the naked adult form that I saw sometimes.

She came towards our direction slowly... as we tried to open the door we locked. It was jammed...!!! We kicked it, we shot it, but it didn't open at all!!

"Argh!! Move, damn it!!" I cursed as I rammed on to it with absolutely no success in trying to break it open.

As Alma came close to us, we aimed our weapons, but with our nervous breakdowns and feeling extremely tense, all our gunfire missed her. Both of us ran out of clip in no time... and we braced ourselves...

But she opened the door for us instead. It was gone. Then afterwards I saw her going out. The Replicas concentrated their fire on her, but they were all killed in a matter of seconds as she simply walked past them. All that remained were bloody skeletons with clips of ammo all over the ground, as if we were in the Flanders Field during the World War.

"That was so... weird." I muttered to myself.

Why did Alma save us... when she could've simply killed us in there?

"Well we gotta move on... Holiday and Jankowski might be worried sick about us." I reminded Richard, who simply grunted in the pain he was still going through.

"Easy for you to say...!" He moaned.

"Sorry Richard... guess you gotta suck it up." That was all I could say to him as I reloaded my assault rifle.

The two of us then walked our way towards Auburn... it would be a long journey, with Replicas attempting to impede our progress. We had to make it... we were both powerful warriors.

We took a little rest after about twenty minutes of walk or so. We were at a small market place... we rested near there to think about how everyone else might be doing.

"Man, you thirsty?" I asked, as I placed my weapon on my laps.

"I'm good... at least I'm not bloodthirsty." Richard joked, wiping the blood off his wounds.

Afterwards we haven't spoken for a while... we were too tired from the battles we went through today. Besides, we had nothing to talk about at the time. Moreover, no time to chat.

"Well we better get moving... Holiday might get pissed if we slack off." I suggested as Richard nodded in agreement, and we continued our way to Auburn Area. At least we had just one more block to go... but even walking was tiring at this time!

* * *

We finally reached Holiday and Jankowski, along with SFOD-D, police, SWAT, and ATC security survivors.

"Man we've been waiting for you for... just what the fuck took you guys so long?" Jankowski blurted.

"Sorry sir, but we were overwhelmed by a huge number of Replicas..." Richard apologized.

"Well, whatever. We're all in one piece." Holiday said as he scratched his head a little bit.

"Sir, where's the Point man?" I asked... downright curious.

"There's no sign of him at the moment... hopefully he survived the crash." Jankowski took Holiday's place to reply, and pointed at the broken chopper.

"He's not dead though, is he?"

"Can't say... let's hope not. But we gotta wait for Jin too. But then those freaks are everywhere...!!"

I looked at the wounded SFOD-D soldiers all around us. They moaned, with blood all over their armour. Pretty soon they were to collapse... but most of them weren't necessarily **dying** either.

A few minutes afterwards a chopper arrived, and Ms. Kwon came down along with a few SFOD-D escorts. First she looked at Richard's wounds... because he came there first as I tried to help him get to her.

"He's going to be okay... but it might take some time to recover. He still shouldn't fight." Ms. Kwon recommended, "I want him and rest of the wounded men to go back to the HQ. Calling a medevac would be a risky at this point, and it'd be best if we lessen the chances of casualties."

"We would do that if we could, but the line's jacked. We gotta keep moving... and since those bastards are securing much of the city, it's best to take refuge at the Hospital." Holiday argued back, "and set an extraction point at the roof... we'll have to contact any nearest choppers nearby possible."

"But we might as well take a little break... at least five minutes. We're all dinged up if you ask me." Jankowski groaned as he showed him a rather large cut he got on his shoulder.

"Very well... but get ready while it lasts, people."

While Ms. Kwon took care of Richard and Jankowski's wounds, I took a look around the crash site for any signs of the Point Man... and nothing showed. NOTHING! But that also meant one thing... he managed to escape. If he didn't then his body would still be at the chopper. In fact there weren't any bodies found around the chopper. Maybe everybody here managed to survive...

Then I leaned my head on a wall on the Auburn Hospital... resting it. I didn't know I was even fighting here... I could've escaped with everybody else... I just couldn't leave my family here. They were around for sure. And the Point Man was fighting too. I just hoped he didn't die... if I left I would've been gone not knowing how he was.

God must hate me... I go through this amount of misery when I didn't do anything wrong. He should've done this a long time ago. He should've made my life more miserable in the beginning so I'd know what it's like now.

If I could I would've committed suicide or allowed those Replica Soldiers kill me. But I couldn't. It just wasn't right... and I feared death too... as much as I feared my life at the moment.

"Alright people, Replicas may have us sandwiched any moment, let's get our asses inside!!" Holiday shouted as survivors staggered to the hospital... and I followed afterwards.

* * *

But nobody knew that there was no way out from there on.

* * *

As soon as everybody entered the hospital, they took a quick look around their surroundings... The lights weren't all that decent powered, but it was still good enough to be considered reliable.

"Alright people, we're gonna separate and look for ANY patients that were left behind. If a Replica or whatsoever hostiles come on your way, it's your duty to neutralize the threat. But remember, look carefully at what you're shooting... we don't want us shooting at one another." Holiday gave us the orders...

However, one ATC security looked rather nervous and went for the exit... but when he tried pushing the door, it didn't open.

"What the hell...?? Oh god, are we gonna die here??" He panicked.

Holiday didn't seem to react harshly towards his action, despite the situation we were all in.

"Those Replicas are damn clever... weakening our defences to trap us in here." Jankowski said angrily.

"We'll worry about that later. Alright people, we're gonna form groups... Alpha Team, with the exception of Dash... the remaining members should go and help ATC security, and find any hostiles in this hospital and neutralize them. The SWAT and the police force, you two look for any patients that were left here or any US army force survivors... the rest of you are another team... alright people. Let's move it out."

I was rather confused why Holiday would remove me out of the Alpha Team, but I couldn't argue back. Afterwards everyone else separated, we were soon on our own in the lobby...

"Alright guys, we're gonna check this floor. Jin, you stay here and try to take care of Richard. And Dash, we'll split up and look at different areas. Take a look at the lounge... I'll look at the doctor's office." Jankowski gave his orders and I nodded, while Jin and Richard stayed there... looking at me as if they were worried about my safety. But I couldn't stay there and comfort them...

I went to the lounge... filled with blood, broken or flipped over chairs, broken television set hanging on the wall, broken vending machines, and skeletons everywhere.

But there was a corpse of one of the doctors that probably worked here... he had a clipboard held on his hand. I picked it up and took a look at it. I couldn't really read it because on the papers there were bloody footprints on them... but from the papers piled on there a severed hand fell off.

I didn't know if I was imagining or if this was happening, but the clipboard all of a sudden lifted out of my hands and hit my forehead with incredible amount of force. It was enough to send me to the nearby wall, and drop my rifle. Then it charged at me, and I narrowly managed to avoid it as it hit the wall. I rolled sideways, and saw the clipboard float again. But luckily I actually managed to roll near my rifle. I picked it up and fired at it... it sent the clipboard to the wall and I kept pinning the thing on to it until it broke into pieces.

But that wasn't over... those broken pieces all floated and tried to cut me. I rolled out of the way and when the pieces charged towards the opposite wall. I took this time to shoot at the windows nearby. Afterwards the pieces charged at me again, and I ran towards where the broken windows were. The pieces of the clipboard charged towards it and went outside, but I quickly took this time to find a chair on the floor and put it right in front of the window. It barged the wooden pieces outside...

"Whew!"

I managed to let that out and decided to run out of the room... even a little thing like a clipboard attacked me. So what could be next... a broken vending machine flying right towards me?

I went back to where Ms. Kwon and Richard were... only to find out that they weren't there anymore. Just puddle of blood coming down from the ceiling.

"Ms. Kwon...? Richard? Where are you guys?"

Shit... don't tell me I was alone now. If something happened to them... would the certain same thing apply to Jankowski as well?

Damn it Alma... why do you and Fettel have to make my life a living hell? Stop torturing me I'm telling you!! I can't take anymore of your little childish games!!

I attempted to contact Holiday via the radio... but all I heard was static. This obviously meant something shitty was about to happen in this hospital... hell maybe in a few hours I'd be the only survivor, and eventually die off like the others probably would. And later I would have to fight through this whole mess I went through until I die.

Suddenly the vending machine nearby fell on it's own. I pointed at it and saw a strange rag doll like figure coming towards me. I moved backwards away from it, about to open fire at it. But suddenly my entire body couldn't move... I was frozen in place. And I saw the figure getting closer and closer...

Shit, whatever this thing would do to me probably did the same thing to Ms. Kwon and Jankowski.

It then put it's arms around me and I began to feel really heavy. It somehow pulled me down, but I was at least able to move again. But the grip of this creature was really hard. I tried firing at the rag doll, but the bullets just went through this thing.

"Fuck!!" I cursed as I ran out of ammo.

Then it pulled me downwards, to a place where my nightmares would deepen even more.

* * *

_**I played the Perseus Mandate demo last week, and I may actually consider buying the game. That Chen guy from the demo may be in this **__**story, or the sequel, but will probably play a different role. And the main character that will be played in Perseus Mandate may ALSO be in the sequel, though definitely not in this story for sure. Anyways, R&R!**_


	29. A Place No Return

_**Well people, the final chapter is about 2-5 chapters away... excluding possible side chapters I might add. But recently I've been contemplating on whether to give up and delete my account or not because I was really that depressed.**__** I just couldn't hold the pressure and all so yeah...**_

_**But more or less, here's the next chapter. It's really close to the end so make the best out of the time we still got XD.**_

**Chapter 29: A Place of No Return

* * *

**

...Where... where the fuck was I?

My body ached all over... and I couldn't see a thing around me. Where... where was I? And how the hell did I get here? And what the fuck was happening to me?

Suddenly I felt all the pain in my body getting stronger and stronger... then I looked at my palm, which was beginning to bleed as well as my other one. Then I realized my forehead was bleeding too... they dripped down my eyes and I just saw blood pouring down...

* * *

What the... what the fuck was that? 

It was a dream... only a dream. But somehow the pain felt almost real. But it wasn't enough to get me down all day, so I just got up from my short slumber and looked around my surroundings.

The place seemed like all hell to me. It didn't look like the hospital at all... the walls were torn up and there was blood dripping from the ceiling. So the question was... why the fuck was I here?

Suddenly I heard somebody walked by in the room ahead. I decided to go and investigate, but a few black holes came into sight right in front of me and from there had strange floating figures coming out, charging straight towards me. I fired my assault rifle towards them, killing them all in a matter of seconds. But it wasn't quick enough that when I went to the next room, there was nobody there.

But there were a few stair steps downwards... and on the lower level there were three tubs filled entirely with blood. In fact they kept spilling because the faucet was still on.

I proceeded on to turn it off, and my hand got closer and closer...

A hand suddenly came out of the tub, and began to strangle me. The grip was extremely tight, but I got my camping knife and stabbed it on to the arm, and it's grip soon got weaker and eventually let me go.

_One thing to note... if you see anything that's not normal, do not even touch it, or get near it._

Then there was a single door at a dark spot ahead... I reached open for it, and saw only what had a single bed covered in blood. But I didn't even get near it and the covers were thrown at me. It wrapped around my face and suffocated me...

It sure got really tight... I couldn't hold on much longer. I then got my knife again and cut the covers... it stopped doing what it was doing to me.

_This whole place is a killing zone...!! Is there even a way out of this place?_

Things just couldn't get any worse... but staying here just wouldn't stop anything, hell if I stayed here things get _worse_.

I tried to reach out and open the door to the next room, but it opened by itself and from there those strange floating creatures flew past again. I shot every single one of them down... and soon the coast was clear... for now I guess.

I went ahead to the next room, expecting anything. I leaned on the wall so there wouldn't be any surprise from behind. With my other hand I had my assault rifle pointed towards the direction I was headed to with my pistol pointing at the opposite direction. But of course, at a place like this, even the walls wouldn't be safe, but it was safer than simply going forwards without thinking that something might be behind me.

I opened the next door... and seemed to me this was a dead end.

_Fuck... I went through this trouble for nothing..._

But I was wrong. Somehow I was pulled in there and the next moment I knew, the door closed behind me! And the walls were coming towards my direction, about to squeeze me. When both sides of my body touched the wall, the wall on the back pushed me wards the door... and as my frontal part of my body hit the door, it stopped, but now the ceiling came down on me. When it touched my head, it didn't stop... I crouched to prolong my life for at least a few seconds... but it didn't work. The ceiling just shrinking and shrinking... and I was about to get squished to the wall and be nothing but a puddle of blood for Alma to walk on.

That wasn't until I realized after a flash, the room was back to normal, and from behind me the wall revealed yet another room... at least I wasn't stuck in that room again.

I went ahead and still expected something to happen... but that wasn't until when I was about to turn to a fork ahead someone ran past and hit the wall, and he sat down, clutching his arm in pain.

"Richard!! What the hell happened??" I questioned, as I kneeled down beside him.

"F...Fettel... he... he stabbed me with his dagger there... and he took Ms. Kwon... she's in a lot of trouble!" He answered, breathing heavily.

"Damn... we gotta find him before he does who-knows-what to her... Richard, we better get moving before some nasty shit happens to her!" I encouraged him.

"Dash... I... can't... but take this shotgun... you might need it..." he gasped for air, and weakly whispered, "Watch your back..."

And he soon died...

"Richard!! Wake up!! WAKE UP!!! Get up damn it, GET – UP!"

I looked at him... he wasn't responding. Blood just poured down from his lips.

"RICHARRRRRRRRRDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!" I bellowed out loud.

I couldn't let Fettel and Alma get away with this... they killed a good friend of mine... we knew each other in less than a week and became so close...

They'll pay for your death Richard. I promise you.

* * *

I then took his shotgun and cocked it, ready for vengeance. I moved on with caution, yet with a little bit of rage. Letting the rage dominate the cautiousness would get me even more hurt. But I had to fight those two... for Richard. 

Just then those red eyes invisible creatures came to attack me, and their sharp claws slashed me on my shoulder. I was able to bear this pain... but there were about five of them surrounding me.

I allowed one to come close to me, and I lowered my eyes to shoot it down. The reflex time allowed me to see their movement, but even then they moved with normal human speed as if they were just walking. That was when I got my assault rifle and shot another one down that clinged on to the wall... but the third one batted my rifle away. That was when I got my pistol and shot him down too, but just as the thing disappeared another one slashed my back... I felt it bleeding, but at least it didn't slice my spine in half. I turned around and shot that one down too... but by then I needed to reload. When I did however, the final one living pierced its claw through my shoulder, making a hole on it.

I let out a loud scream... and fell down to the floor, letting all the blood that came from the hole pour on to the floor. That invisible thing rushed for the exit, but suddenly it slowed down and it clutched it's head, and soon it disappeared, leaving only ashes.

That was from the shadows, the young Alma appeared. Oh man... my life must be flashing before my very eyes.

It got close and kneeled down... and then it looked at my wounds. Fuck... what was she planning to do with this?

She put her hand on it... and soon the pain began to dwindle. The hole was gone, and I felt like the injury never occurred.

I couldn't believe it... she was _helping _me?

She then turned around and saw another dead body nearby... she put her hand on it and the once living person came back to life. He began to move, and Alma disappeared afterwards...

"Richard...!! You're... you're alive!!" I exclaimed.

"H...huh? What the... I was sure Fettel killed me with his dagger..." Richard moaned as he got up.

If I told Alma revived him, he might've thought I was insane.

"Glad you're alright... but we gotta hurry Rich. Ms. Kwon-"

"I know. I want to kick his ass now... Damn that Fettel." Richard grunted as I gave him back his shotgun.

"Alright Richard..." I said, "how about doing them a favour in return?" I offered.

"Sounds cool to me... now let's move!"

* * *

_**TO BE CONTINUED...**_

_**Disappointing chapter indeed, but... gah.**_

_**Again this is nowhere near the ending. I hope Richard dying briefly there got your surprised...!! But more or less, it's all good for now. R&R!**_


	30. Reunited

_**I'll admit the previous chapter was pretty short... but I just decided to make it more su**__**spenseful for the next chapter.**_

_**On a side note, I decided that the sequel will not really be a horror or action fanfiction, it'll rather be more of a drama than something most of you may have expected. But if you absolutely insist on having those criteria for the sequel, then I'll try putting some of them to it. If you don't mind, that's **__**great. But I do intent to have some fire fight scenes and horror scenes in the sequel, but for the most part it will be drama.**_

_**And no, the sequel will not be a normal life kinda thing; it won't necessarily be all about how the characters live in the future and shit like that. But since I don't wanna spoil too much, you'll just have to see what my sequel really will be about.**_

**Chapter 30: Reunited

* * *

**

The two of us continued to explore this place for clues on where we were, and how we could get out. It definitely was a tough way to the top, but even the biggest mess was evitable. But obviously battling through hordes of paranormal creatures along the way would be next to impossible...! How did we even get into this mess anyway?

"Hey Dash... so how the hell did you get down here anyway?" Richard asked, as we kept walking along.

"Um... I remember seeing this thing... looked almost like a rag doll. It moved towards me and pulled me down somehow through the solid ground." I replied, opening a door nearby.

"Same here, but not Ms. Kwon. That was also when I encountered Fettel... along with about five Replica soldiers. He summoned one of those things too and pulled me down. But before I completely drowned myself down here, I saw the Replica shooting a tranquilizer gun at her and put her unconscious... I really hope Fettel didn't cannibalize her like he did to most of his victims."

Wait... that meant Ms. Kwon wasn't down here at all. What's worse, if we don't get outta here quick Fettel would do god-knows-what or you-know-what...

* * *

I opened the door nearby, and in there had pictures posted on the wall.

"What the hell... what are these photos doing here?" I thought out loud.

"Beats the heck outta me..." Richard blurted back.

There were also names written on the bottom of each picture.

* * *

_Harlan Wade_

_Alice Wade_

_Aldus Bishop_

_Charles Habbager_

_Bill Moody_

_William Parker

* * *

_

Wait... did it say _**William Parker**_?

So that was my grandpa... the one that duplicated the Point Man's DNA to create a clone... which was really me! He was the one man I saw in the new awakening in my life...

And this also meant one thing. This listed all the people that were working for Armacham and those who died. There were quite a lot of people listed here too... maybe other employees or ATC security that died while they worked here.

"Dash... take a look at this." Richard called as he was looking at the opposite side of the room from me. I walked to him and saw there was a message written on the wall.

**ALMA WAS HERE... AND IS HERE.**

But afterwards there was something also written there... in blood.

**I SEE YOU.**

The doors suddenly shut closed all of a sudden, and when we tried going up to them and open them, they were locked extremely tight. It didn't even budge, and didn't break even if we used our weapons.

"What the fuck is going on here??" Richard grunted as he rammed on to the door to attempt to force it open.

Suddenly the mannequins we saw earlier were approaching towards us. What those things were going to do were a mystery… it was only a matter of time they would approach us and all hell would break loose in this room.

But something happened… something that none of us expected.

A fallen SFOD soldier that somehow ended up in this place too was flung to this room, and the impact managed to smash the door into bits. The gun that the man had on his hand somehow fired it's bullets on to the mannequins somehow and soon none of them were around. But the floating corpse also exploded, leaving a pool of blood around the room.

"I wonder who the hell keeps saving our asses like this…" Richard muttered.

As much as I'd ask him the same question, I'd ask myself why Alma would want to save us… I know it's her for sure, since there's no one else that can do something like moving dead bodies around. I remember when I saw her a week ago she was threatening to kill me. I wouldn't know about the older self, since she still looked rather menacing and threatening seeing as she appeared more often than the young Alma did… And all the older form did was attempting to kill us.

Hold on… I remember when I played the piano a couple days ago. She said she was free or something like that…

Wait a minute… I got it! The lyrics to that song showed that the narrator was speaking to the mother… and Alma probably wanted to see her sons say that or something, or at least show her how we missed her. And the young Alma that came out was released… so maybe because that all the anger and hatred disappeared within the young one when I played the song!

I was about to explain that to Richard, but if I were to say that I played piano, he might ask why I played it... and that if I told him that because Alma told me to, then I'll have to have a series of explanation I had to prepare for him. If I did what Alma said, he might think I'm insane... or just anything but normal.

Another thing to note… maybe the younger one would be helping because before she turned into a teenager, she had no thoughts of revenge whatsoever. Maybe that's why the younger one was saving our asses so much.

"Let's see what's in the next room." Richard said as he proceeded to the next room. I followed him afterwards… but that didn't last long.

Somehow I saw the adult Alma coming behind Richard but was in front of me. I was somehow pushed all the way back to the room I came back from and after that Richard was already gone…

"Richard!! RICHARD!!! WAIT UP!!" I shouted as I ran to the direction he went to.

* * *

Damn it… Alma, why?

I went to the next room… and strangely he was nowhere to be found. Great… just my luck.

The next room had a table… it was pretty small, and there was also a note placed on it.

* * *

_To Dash_

_It's the Point Man… I ended up here too, but I think I found a way out. What you need is your grandfather's skull. Remember, he's your grandfather, and he was involved in ATC. The only way out is to find the skull of someone that was related to ATC AND you. For me it was Harlan Wade, but as for you it would be William Parker. His skull is found in a few rooms up ahead. But with Alma in the way, stay sharp bro.

* * *

_

The Point Man was here too? And more importantly, how did he write that note if he found a way out? And how did he know I was here?

But if he said a few rooms up ahead, then it must be close… and I had to find Richard!

I opened the door ahead of me, and it led to a corridor…a rather long one I should add. I ran to the end of the corridor, seeing a rather large door nearby. Maybe Richard was in there… he couldn't be that far!!

But in front of the door, just as I approached, Alma appeared out of nowhere.

She strangled me and tightened her grip as hard as she could. She then tossed me aside, and she locked the door where I came from and the one behind her. Her palm then faced me, and I began to hover in the air. She then flung me to the ceiling, then back onto the floor, and hit me on to the right side of the room. Then my lips began to bleed, even if she didn't hit me there…

She then dropped me onto the floor to grab me on the neck again, but I managed to avoid her in time by rolling away, and aiming my pistol at her head.

"Say good night, Alma." I said as I shot her in the eye.

Her iris began to bleed, and I decided to take this chance to shoot her on her cheekbones, knees, and her tarso. But this instead made her engulfing herself on fire and moving towards me. Her eyes were replenished somehow and I backed away from her. This was definitely not a good thing… oh man, this just gets messier and messier doesn't it.

I then equipped my assault rifle again and fired the weapon at her with full force, and this made cuts and holes all over her body. But she still moved as if nothing happened.

Fuck… there had to be a way out of this mess. If bullets don't even scratcher her then what would?

She then screamed out loud, and from there those ghosts like figures came out from all eight directions around me. Shit… where's the Point Man or the little Alma when I need them?

I shot the ones in front of me first and then jumped forwards and cover my head as I faced the ground when the ones behind me swooped towards me. But that was also a chance for Alma to come near me and poke me in the forehead when I looked up. Even a single poke felt like a thousand needles stinging my head.

And not to mention fling me backwards, to those ghost figures. They exploded upon impact and they hurt quite a lot.

Man… I should be dead by now. Why and how was I still alive when all this pain overwhelmed throughout my entire body?

I struggled to get back on my feet. I clutched my arm in pain and staggered to try and get out of this room Alma trapped me in..

As Alma rushed towards me at a lightening speed, I was sure, I would've been dead, but something else happened.

The young Alma held the adult one back. She then made a blue ball of energy of some sort and pushed the adult one out of the way.

_Run… quickly… before she hurts us._ The young one whispered to me.

I nodded at her and ran to where Alma locked the door. I shot the doorknob and the door finally opened, no longer jammed. There I was at a room full of shelves. They had bones and pictures of ATC victims everywhere…

"Dash!!"

Richard called me, and came up from my right side.

"Where the fuck have you been… you worried my ass off! You looked like you've been through hell too."

"Oh… it's Alma. She found me. But I managed to get her out of the way… for now I guess. But anyway I found out how to get out of this place." I replied, "and the key is in this room. And…"

"I read the Point Man's note earlier, and I know. Now I gotta find my dad's bone and get the fuck out of this madhouse…"

We separated and looked for our family members' skulls… Richard found his already however, and he suddenly he seemed like he was talking to himself.

"Dad…!! It's me, Richard…!! Huh? Yeah… uh huh? Great! ………….It's okay dad, you couldn't help it. No need to grieve about it. But what's important too is to finish Alma and Fettel off before it's too late!! Really? Okay!!"

Richard walked a few steps forwards and he suddenly disappeared. But why was he talking to a skull?

I found my grandfather's skull too… if I ended up talking to nobody like Richard did, something was awfully wrong.

"_Dash…_"

A voice called me as I picked it up.

"_Dash… my wise grandson… I finally see you grown up._"

I was probably imaging this… but I tried to let a few words out to see what would happen.

"G…Gramps?"

"_Yes… I can finally hear your voice… listen… Alma… her strength is growing… you must stop her before things get worse. Now listen to me. The only way to get rid of Harlan Wade's daughter for good… is to bring the young Alma to battle the adult Alma. Since she is finally free from the evil grasp, thanks to you, and only she has the power to battle her future self. If she cannot be the biggest help that can be given, then only you and your brother can destroy her… but I shall watch over you until the end, my grandson._" He explained.

"I got it gramps… and… thanks… for cloning me and for allowing me to step on mother Earth. At least you offered me a chance to live with family and friends." I thanked him.

"_It would be my pleasure to see you move on this planet. Dash… I sense victory is near. If Alma disappears from this world… she would no longer have any anger or vengeance to seek. Now move on, lad! I shall watch over you until the very end. Step on that beacon ahead… and you'll come back to where you used to be._"

I nodded and ran to the beacon my gramps mentioned… and soon I saw bright light… and I was soon back at the hospital lobby I used to be in.

* * *

**To be continued…**

_**The story's**__** near the end!! Haunted Memories is once again the longest running F.E.A.R. story to this day, and I hope a lot of people enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.**_


	31. A Fight to the End

_**Okay... two more chapters and that**__** will be the final one for this story. I might add extra side story chapters if I feel like it, but don't think too heavily on it as chances of that happening is about sixty percent. But still, if I feel like it I might put some extra chapters up. **_

_**Anyways, enjoy the last few chapters and possible side story chapters.

* * *

**_

**Chapter 31: A Fight to the End**

I couldn't figure out how the Point Man got out of there so quick. But more or less, we knew he was safe... for now at least. Richard and I managed to get out of that hell hole. But... the problem was... where the fuck was Jankowski? And the rest of the people that were stuck in this hospital?

"Fuck... Dash, this can't be good. The reports all over the country are saying that those damn Replicas are attacking Los Angeles now. Shit... guess those bastards got us trapped so Alma can kill the rest of us." Richard described the situation as he turned off the nearby radio, which managed to catch a signal all the way to Los Angeles.

"Well the entire country is in danger! If we don't stop them and Fettel now, then for all we know everything is lost! If we can somehow find a way to signal the base for evac and get us the hell out of this place..." I stopped, having no idea how to continue my sentence.

"Dash... I have to kill Fettel myself. If I never told you before, he's the one that ate and killed my father... apparently he eats people as a way to absorb the knowledge other people have that he doesn't." Richard explained.

"Yeah... and it's most likely him that's holding my family hostage somewhere. If I don't find them soon, then believe me, you'll be seeing a homeless boy soon." I grunted as we began to climb the stairs.

Just then I heard static on my radio transmitter... I answered it.

"Dash! You better get to the third floor ASAP. There's something you gotta see here."

It was Holiday... glad he was alright.

"Roger. We're on our way."

I cut the Comm. Link off and the two of us headed to the third floor... hoping Alma wouldn't pull tricks on us when we least suspect it. But she was Alma... when would she not leave us alone?

* * *

As we arrived on the third floor, we not only saw bodies of the police SFOD members... but also Replicas.

"Man this place looks like hell..." I muttered as we investigated the floor.

It was apparently some sort of laboratory with lots of equipments you would normally find in chemistry class. Maybe this floor was based on pharmacy, making new kinds of medicines for patients.

"More dead Replicas... but strangely I don't see any bullet holes anywhere. God knows what could've killed these motherfuckers." I said to myself again... but Richard suddenly got in my way while I was walking.

"Hey... did you hear that?" He whispered.

Lights suddenly turned off all by themselves... and all we could see were photocopying machines that weren't photocopying anything. But it did at least give us some lightening support.

We were then surrounded by those invisible creatures with claws and red eyes. We ran backwards away from them and the two of us fired at the group of ghosts that were coming right at us.

"Where do these guys come from anyway?" Richard grunted as he also fired his secondary weapon, the standard issue F.E.A.R. SMG.

"If it isn't from Alma, who else could it be from?" I blurted as I fired as well at the ghosts. The two of us took cover as well but more just kept on coming.

But more kept coming at overwhelming numbers... to the point where we were forced to retreat.

"Let's get the fuck out of here!!" Richard suggested as he ran towards another door, and he quickly shut it as I pushed a nearby table nearby to keep the door shut.

"We should find Holiday now... I wonder where he could be though?" I wondered as we opened the door that led to the next room, and our questions were suddenly answered.

Holiday was there, waiting for us.

"Dash!! Richard!! You better come here and see this quick!!"

These looked like mental wards to us... but what was Holiday going to show us?

"None of these people are mental... but I found out the people in there are Fettel's prisoners." Holiday said.

"What? Fettel's prisoners? What the hell?" I crossed my eyes in confusion.

Suddenly lights all came into the room. There were people in there alright, but they didn't seem to show any mental disorders.

"DASH!!"

There was mom... and my two sisters!

"MOM!! MEG! WENDY!!" I called after them and ran towards them. If I could I'd hug them, but I saw them through the glasses.

"Dash...! Thank goodness you're safe! Where's your father?" Mom asked me.

"He uh... he went to the island... with other citizens. But we'll meet him soon... just gotta get you guys out of there!"

I tried to open the door, but it was jammed... damn! At this moment it just HAS to be locked!

I also noticed Richard finding his mother as well... and tried to do the same thing. But it didn't do much either.

"We better find a key of some sort to get these people out of here... but I would also secure this area and wait for your return. Dash, Richard, your priorities are to either find the Point Man or Jin... I heard she was captured. If both missions are failed, then find the master key of some sort to free these prisoners and we'll make our way out setting the extraction point on the roof!" Holiday ordered as we responded with "Sir, yes sir!"

We moved out, having to find the master key to get my family out of that place...

* * *

We were still at the stairs... a master key room would be difficult to find in a hospital, but we knew there had to be a way there somehow...

"Hey Dash... I think I heard something... but it's different. Sound a bit human." Richard whispered as we reached the seventh floor.

He was right... it sounded a lot like talking though... we were expecting a scream though from a madhouse like this... We decided to go investigate the talking and see who these two people were, staying at a place like this at night by themselves.

Just then we heard some noises... sounded like foot steps. And it sounded like someone was running _away_ from us instead... but what kind of paranormal creature would run away from human beings... who to them were nothing but mere toys?

Then we heard the door locking up by itself. Richard approached to the side of the door as I aimed my weapon towards it. I then kicked it open with a lot of force and Richard went in first, turning his flashlight on.

"Fuck!! Don't shoot!!! Please!!"

A rather masculine voice yelped... Richard turned his flashlight towards where the voice came from to see a rather grotesquely obese man wearing a Hawaiian red shirt.

"Who might you be...?" Richard wondered as he lowered his weapon while I turned the light to the room on.

"I'm Norton Mapes... and I happen to be an ATC engineer. Look, I was one of the unlucky patients that got stuck on this hospital during the outbreak, okay? Can you PLEASE get me the hell out of this place?"

For some reason he didn't seem quite trustworthy... or maybe I was imagining.

Then behind him I saw Ms. Kwon... unconscious. She was laying on the floor...

"Sir, what the hell did you to her?" I questioned as I approached Ms. Kwon.

"Hey, I saved her ass so be thankful!! If it wasn't for me that psycho named Fettel would've eaten her!" Mapes grunted in annoyance... but he still sounded suspicious. His face was somewhat red too.

"Sir, I'm afraid we're gonna have to settle that in court once we get the hell outta here... but first get to the roof sir. We'll call for the nearest evac chopper possible." I ordered.

"Nearest my ass you little son of a bitch... this whole city is deserted. Look, we're in a lot of danger... we thought you guys got rid of Alma for good when we blew up Origin... can't believe she's still around."

"We know... but look, we want you to bring Ms. Kwon to safety. Fettel can send those Replicas here any minute and-"

"TARGETS SIGHTED!!"

Great... just my luck.

Three Replica soldiers had us cornered, with Mapes and the two of us... along with the unconscious Ms. Kwon.

"Shit... I wonder where these guys come from... if they're attacking another city right now then there must be enough to obliterate one entire country." I muttered to myself as we aimed their weapons at them.

Just then a machine gun fire came from behind them. It killed two of them in just split second. Then the final one noticed who the assailant was, but before that he fired a few bullets from his pistol and fired at his head.

The guy was an Asian member who also wore a F.E.A.R. armour and uniform.

"I knew you guys needed a hand. You guys alright?" He asked.

"Thanks a bunch... but who are ya?" I asked him as we lowered our weapons briefly.

"I'm Lieutenant Chen... from F.E.A.R. Squad number 2. Betters told us that you guys needed a lot of help, so we just decided to tag along." He said as he reloaded his weapons, "the line's jack free now, feel free to make contact to the HQ if you wish."

"That's great!! Now we can-"

"Hold it Dash." Richard stopped me as he cocked his shotgun, "That Fettel... we have to kill him too. He's the reason why my dad was killed..."

I knew Richard would have a strong desire to see Fettel dead. After all, if Fettel never controlled them, his father wouldn't have lost his job... and later be murdered.

"Heh... I don't where you got that guts... being so confident at a place like this." Chen spat out.

"Look, we need your help. Can you escort these two out of here?" I pointed at Mapes and Ms. Kwon, "call for evac... we'll stay here for a bit and continue our investigation." I requested the Lieutenant.

"Alright, but don't come crying if he starts wailing on ya." Chen teased us as he slung Ms. Kwon on his shoulder and Mapes followed, who muttered, "I'm ready to get the hell outta here..."

We saw them leave, and nodded at each other to get ready for another mission we had to finish.

* * *

After climbing up a few sets of stairs, we approached a door nearby... I leaned from the side of it and opened it and quickly aimed my rifle at the hallway that we just revealed... I turned my flashlight on due to the lack of lightening. I pointed forwards to show Richard that the coast was clear for us to move on.

Suddenly I saw Richard turning around... which made me do that too.

"I get the feeling someone's behind us..." Richard said without even turning around to look at me.

"You can just never be too careful around here." I added as I pointed at the direction he was too.

On the floor however, I saw a shadow approaching ours... and it was really coming from behind us. The shadow was yet too familiar for me... on the hand of the shadow there was also a dagger held.

I turned around, kept the eye on the shadow. As it approached mine, it raised it's dagger high up, ready to strike.

Acting quickly, I got out my own pocket knife and stabbed whatever was on the illusion of the shadow... it really turned out to be...

"FETTEL!" I bellowed as Richard saw him too and turned around and aimed his weapon towards him.

"So brother... you feel me now do you... remember, we are one... do not forget that." He said as he took out the dagger... it seemed like my knife didn't affect him at all. He took out the knife that was stabbed right into his wound and threw it back straight at me. It gave a cut my left arm, and swopped past both me and Richard.

"Why do you try escaping from your destiny... it's the one thing that you cannot fight against." He said in a monotone pitch again, as he approached us with the dagger on his hand.

"Cut the shit!!" Richard growled as he fired his shotgun pellets at him... which didn't seem to affect him one bit.

"My my... you try to resist your fate. But I can stop you from suffering more." Fettel laughed as he approached us. We continuously fired our weapons on him... and Richard also threw a grenade at him to see if there was a difference in result.

There was a little different from the explosion, but not much. He seemed to stagger for a few seconds but walked like he was normal again afterwards.

"This guy's made of whatever humans aren't made of for sure!!" Richard growled while he switched to his sub machine gun and fired continuously at him.

Man, this guy must've had the strength of more than a dozen million Replicas.

There were a lot of smoke coming from the gunfire... but when we least suspected this, he threw his dagger at us. I was barely able to dodge it but none of us got hurt. But god knew what else he could do.

* * *

That was when everything turned black and there were fires surrounding us...

Us?

Richard? Where the hell are you?

He disappeared... what the fuck was Fettel doing to me?

"They tried to bury their sins... but instead planted the seeds of their doom." I heard Fettel say... and that was also when I heard a scream.

There two of those ghostly figures coming right at me. I fired my weapon quickly enough to kill them... but that didn't stop Fettel from saying another sentence either.

"A war is coming... I've seen it in my dreams. Fires sweeping through the Earth, bodies in the streets, cities turned to dust... Retaliation."

That gave another scream, with another ghosts coming to me. This time one came from front of me and the other from behind. I fired my weapon on only one and allowed the other to just hit me...

"You still don't know do you? What you are... why you are here."

Another scream, another ghosts. But this time there were FOUR. How was I going to deal with four ghosts at once when they were coming from four directions? I fired my pistol this time, but only managed to kill one and let the other three attack. Pain flew all over my body...

I fell to the invisible floor on the black void and gasped... I tried to get back up, only to hear Fettel speak more.

"You must've sensed it... she cannot see in your mind but perhaps you can see into hers... a life of one nightmare, only to find yourself deep in another."

I heard that scream... and I just couldn't get back up... not fully at least. Now came eight ghosts... and my arms refused to let me raise my weapon and fire at these bastards... I gave in and allowed death to come onto me...

* * *

Until I realized I was out of the black void. I was... back to where I was earlier.

I saw Fettel getting shot a few times from behind... he got more and more pale as he was hit my nails from behind. About three went through his head and soon he fell to the floor. The nails kept his head attached there... all we saw from him now was a puddle of blood for someone to step on to.

The Point Man came from behind Fettel... holding another weapon in his arms.

"You guys missed me?" He asked as he held his weapon on a neutral position.

"Boy, am I glad to see you!!" I gasped from my injuries.

"Hey, take it easy there pal. Fettel's dead... and I also discovered something strange." The Point Man began, "the Fettel you see here... isn't the real Fettel. Like Dash, he's a copy of Fettel's DNA... The real Fettel is already dead. His corpse was still there when the explosion on Origin occurred so that's nothing to worry about."

"So I guess this whole thing was thanks to the duplicating process..." I sighed.

"Wait... sir, you said **like** Dash... what do you mean?" Richard asked.

"I'm... I'm really a copy of Point Man's DNA. It's a long story... but look, now we just got to find that master key, free the prisoners, and get the hell out of here." I replied to Richard's question, as we didn't have enough time for explanations.

"Master key to the prison? Hope you mean this..."

The Point Man showed us a card... labelled Auburn Hospital Mental Ward.

"That's great... wait, what happened to Jankowski?" I wondered as I just stopped celebrating a short victory.

"Jankowski said he and the remaining survivors of the battle found a Replica producing factory that's connected to this hospital. He'll join us at the roof... AKA the Extraction Point. He's going to bomb that factory, which would also cause enough damage to obliterate this whole place, so we better get the fuck out of here if you ask me!" The Point Man answered as we started going down the stairs again... to the third floor.

* * *

We went to the prison hallway... where Holiday waited patiently for us.

"Hey, you guys got me worrying my ass off!" Holiday cursed as he turned to us.

"Sorry... we were late on schedule. Look, he's got the prison key. Everyone can get out now." Richard answered as the Point Man inserted the card to the panel... where all doors opened.

Me and Richard finally raced to our family members and hugged... while other prisoners there finally moved around a bit more for a little exercise.

"Mom! Meg! Wendy...!! Am I happy to see you guys safe!" I greeted in relief.

"That's our line, you little brat!" Wendy teased.

"Oh my sweet little baby... still safe." Mom cried as she gave me kisses. Now this was getting a little embarrassing...

"Everyone, look! This place will blow in twenty minutes!! We need all of you to go to the roof and wait for the chopper...!" The Point Man announced as he put his radio down.

Everyone rushed to the roof... as we were told. Getting the fuck out of this place would be like going to heaven for me if I was mortally injured...

Speaking of mortally injured, where was Alma?

Shit... that little bitch was hiding somewhere...

As everyone reached the roof, I reminded the Point Man...

"Sir, what about Alma? We have to take care of her too... And Jankowski might have seen her while he's on his way!!" I warned him.

"I know... I was going to deal with her too. Knew her presence was in the hospital. But we gotta get the citizens out of this place safely first."The Point Man replied.

That was also when the evac chopper arrived. It was big enough for everyone to board... but even if there was a space for me, I had to stay here and take care of Alma...

"Jankowski, do you read me?" The Point Man called over his radio...

"I hear you five five five. We're near the roof... be there in about thirty seconds." Jankowski answered as his voice seemed somewhat a little more clear.

Just a few seconds later, Jankowski arrived... along with two wounded police officers.

"What happened to the rest of the squad?" I asked, as Jankowski shook his head as a sign that they didn't make it...

The trio then went aboard the chopper... and they were waiting for us to come aboard.

"We'll find an alternate route out... get them out of here first." The Point Man ordered the chopper by using the radio.

The pilot reluctantly agreed by saying, "Um... if you insist."

The chopper flew away... somehow I felt that I wanted to ride with them for a bit. Before it left I saw my mom and sisters crying for me to come with them. But I had to do this... I was a son of Alma and I had to rid her tortured spirit out of this world...

Behind us we heard a loud scream. There was a figure approaching from where we exited to the roof. It was the same figure we expected, the one who had the goal of killing us from the start.

Alma.

She wasn't alone though... she was holding a somewhat wounded young Alma with the red dress. She then put her head onto her chest and soon there was a huge bright light that blinded us... Then she was gone.

"Please don't tell me... that young Alma's dead." I grunted as I aimed my pistol at Alma.

"Even worse... she's absorbed her power!!" The Point Man yelled in fear, who also aimed at our mother... we had to finish her off now before all is lost.

* * *

**To be continued...**

_**Yep, Fettel's dead now... Just Alma left!! The next chapter will be shorter than this since it will really be on the final battle against Alma. The chapter afterwards? That's the ending... and the side stories after that if I feel like making one. The side story will be most likely four to six chapters though. But whatever... R&R!!**_


	32. Alma's Fate

_**Well, here's my second next chapter before the conclusion… and yes I will have an extra side story coming up, but it'll be most likely only four chapters max. Anyways, enjoy the final showdown.**_

_**And yes this chapter's shorter than expected. It's just ONE battle. I can't seem to make it long enough. But enjoy.

* * *

**_

**Chapter 32: Alma's Fate**

Alma grinned at us, having an extremely menacing look. She had flames burning on her hand, as if she was about to throw a fireball or something at us. I only imagined things like that were fantasy… but man, was I ever wrong.

I shot Alma with my pistol, where her burning hands were. They were releasing so much energy that my bullet actually melted upon impact. Then we shot her from everywhere, head to toe. The results were obviously quite disappointing. She approached us and we simply backed away from her, knowing that those flames would burn us to crisp in a matter of seconds.

"Dash, distract her! I have an idea!" The Point Man ordered as he fired another shot at her, and quickly ran to a different direction. Alma seemed to have noticed him running away, but I did as I was told… but what the hell was the Point Man having in mind?

I fired at her, and she turned her face back towards me. Then I realized I was out of ammo… and boy was she getting close. I backed myself away to the wall and reloaded a new clip to the pistol, only to have Alma coming up to me at lightening speed as I just finished reloading. She tried to lunge her arms towards me to engulf me in flames, but lucky for me I dodged her just in time.

But she was too fast… even my slow motion ability was useless. She sprinted towards me again with her arms ready to kill me, and I rolled out of the way quickly, making her simply touch the wall. The wall had a huge crack on it… if even a piece of paper hit it, that crack would simply break into pieces.

I then pulled out my assault rifle and fired at her again. But she pointed at the gun and it got out of my hands. She then snapped her fingers and the rifle was broken into pieces… man, just my luck.

I guess if she was capable of doing something like that, guns would just get me killed!

"DASH!!"

The Point Man called me about fifteen meters away. He had a barrel on his hands… He tossed it and shouted "NOW!"

I fired my pistol at it, and it caused a humongous explosion. It flew me away from her a few feet, but I was glad it didn't catch me that much.

"You okay?" Point Man questioned as he approached me.

"Yeah… but… I don't think she's dead…"

And I was right. She still looked like as if she was able to move without a problem.

"Damn it… well then have a piece of this, motherfucker!!" The Point Man cursed as he got out his nail gun and they pierced through her neck and eyes. She stopped moving and grabbed the nails on her, and screamed. That was then when she tossed them away and her eyes recovered at a quick pace, and so did her throat.

She then lunged towards the Point Man, but he jumped out of the way, but at the same time Alma summoned another creature. From the ground, those creatures that took me to the underworld earlier grabbed the Point Man and pulled him downwards.

"Fuck!! Dash, get this bitch off me!!" The Point Man cursed as he struggled. I nearly did as requested until Alma ran into me and with a single poke, I was sent about ten meters away, dropping my pistol.

I got back up and saw only the Point Man's head, just about to go down.

"WAIT!! STOP!! COME BACK!!" I ran to the Point Man's aid, but I was too late and he was gone…

No… this couldn't be. Don't tell me the Point Man was dead. Or disappeared. I wanted my brother until the very end… why did this happened to me? Why damn it… **WHY**?

I looked at where the Point Man disappeared… his gun was still left there. I picked up his handgun and aimed both of them at Alma, who began to approach me.

But she just pointed at my feet, and that same creature nabbed me as well like it did to the Point Man.

If I let him drag in, then I'd see the Point Man again… but I'll only let him down. I had to avenge him… I had to, no matter what cost.

I shot at the creature and it disappeared, and I was still safe. Alma seemed pretty annoyed, and I shot at her… like I usually had to. I knew the result of shooting her, but it was better than doing nothing.

She then just pointed at me, and I began to hover. I was struggling to break free from this strange control in air Alma was having on me. She then nearly closed her hand, like what she did to my rifle. If that's what happened to my rifle…

Uh oh.

I was really a goner now. Alma was about to kill me. Fuck… why did everything have to end like this?

Just then she dropped me back to the ground, and started clutching her head. She screamed really loudly, and somehow there was a blue Alma behind her… like a ghost coming out of her body.

_Hurt her… let me free._

It was young Alma's voice… and I tried to shoot Alma. She screamed even louder as I shot, and she clutched at the parts where I shot her… so my guns were working against her now!

But I soon ran out of ammo on one of my pistols, and had to reload it. But while I was busy doing that, Alma got back up, now looking extremely pissed off. She may have looked angry usually, but this one definitely made me feel uneasy.

I shot her again, but it seemed to have no effect again either. She lunged towards me and strangled me once again, but this time it was followed by a fireball hitting me, and sending me another ten meters away from her. It made a burn on my armor and some parts of my skin, but I managed to roll quickly enough to smother the flames. But that was also when she brought out a knife from somewhere…

Wait a minute… I checked my pocket… hey, I must've dropped that after she threw me away!

She tried to stab me while I was grounded. I nearly got back up, but she was too fast and attempted to slash at my neck, but it failed but it made a cut on my arm instead.

She suddenly dropped her knife again, and clutched her head screaming. I knew something was happening… I quickly drew out my pistols again and fired all my rounds at her, and she was now getting extremely wounded… she fell to the ground, gasping for breath. But from her a blue light came out, and behind her was the Point Man…

"Hey! How did you…" I was about to ask him, but he answered, "Dash…! Hey, sorry about that. Alma must've dragged me inside her mind."

He quickly ran towards me because Alma was there, and explained, "I found young Alma captured in that Alma's mind… she was chained and as I freed her, her power continuously got stronger, and got me out of here."

"Great! We can finish her off, right?" I asked with a tone that showed hope.

"Not quite… Alma used all her energy to get me out of here, so we're alone in the fight." The Point Man replied, now that he told me that I lost hope.

"Don't worry though… she's weak now. I think the explosion should be just enough to finish her." He changed his answer, "Quick, let's get outta here!!"

I nodded, and the two of ran away, watching if Alma was still following us. We had to get the hell out of this place quick before it explodes…

* * *

We quickly made a run for the emergency elevator and pushed lobby… then the Point Man looked at his watch. 

"This should explode in about five minutes." The Point Man informed me, and I nodded to that too.

* * *

As the elevator reached to it's stop, the elevator opened up and we ran for the exit. But just as we reached the door, parts of the ceiling crumbled down and blocked our exit, as well as most of the windows. 

Behind us came Alma… who was severely wounded and furious. She came walking towards us…

The Point Man brought out his nail gun and fired at her, while I fired my pistols. She took the pain seriously, but we fired her from head to toe and she still wasn't dead.

"If Alma's gone and guns gave away a result earlier... why not now? What's going now?" I wondered as we continued shooting her, backing away from her at the same time.

"I don't know... but we have to find something to get rid of her now before she does god-knows-what on us." The Point Man replied as he just realized he ran out of ammo.

And soon I did too... fuck.

We were screwed now for sure. I had no more clips remaining for my pistols, and the Point Man didn't seem to have any clips for his gun either. Neither of us could reload, and I lost my poclet knife earlier... what the fuck could we do now?

Just then Fettel's corpse fell down from the floor above us. He was dead for sure, but I saw his dagger coming out of his pocket. I took it and prepared to toss it at my… mother.

"Good bye, Alma." I said as I threw the dagger and that stabbed through her brain. She froze in place, then a shower of blood came out of her brain and she fell to the floor, dead.

"Dash…you… you did it." The Point Man complimented at me with a smile, and I smiled back and replied "Yeah!"

But more importantly we only had thirty seconds remaining. We quickly smashed the fallen ceiling out of our way and went for the exit, and just as we ran, a huge explosion was upon us. It destroyed the entire building, and it made us fly about twenty feet away. The Auburn Hospital was no more…

* * *

The war was finally over. Alma was gone… at last. 

Suddenly I lost consciousness… the battle and the explosion took a lot out from me. All I saw was... darkness...

* * *

**To be continued…**

_**Yep, that's the second last chapter of Haunted Memories, but that's only the main storyline. Remember to stay tuned for extra chapters!**_


	33. Epilouge

_**Alright, this is the final chapter. And after this comes the side story.**_

_**But before I go on with this chapter, I'd like to say that it was pleasure of my frequent reviewers reading my story. You guys supported this story for an entire year, and I strongly appreciate that. Now on with the final chapter… this will be really short, as there's no conflict or scare scenes.**_

_**One more thing, the sequel WILL have horror scenes, but will more likely have action scenes more. But yeah, and drama in it too.**_

_**But anyways... read my final chapter of this story. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

**_

**Epilouge**

I woke up… slowly, yet weakly. I found myself lying on a bed. I quickly got up, seeing the Point Man lying on the bed right next to mine. But he was fast asleep too… after all he fought more than I did.

I was at least glad Alma wasn't giving me nightmares again either. I had no dream or a nightmare. But that was good…

And about Alma. I really hoped she was gone for good now. If she was still alive, we wouldn't end up on this bed. We'd end up in eternity… she'd find us and simply kill us.

The door suddenly opened, and from there came in Ms. Kwon.

"D…Dash! What are you doing up?" She questioned as she got in.

"I'm okay maim… I-"

"Look, you two need to rest. You've been out for about three days." She defended her orders and forced me to go back to bed.

"So where are we…? And what's happening right now?" I asked as I got back on, just for Ms. Kwon.

"We're in the SWAT HQ right now. It was the nearest place available… we found you through the rubble while looking for any stragglers around. You two were lucky we found you." She explained, and after a short pause she continued, "The Replicas attacked quite a lot of cities in this country. But thanks to you two, that's been stopped and the city's being repaired."

"Oh… I see."

"Don't sweat it… it may take a while before this entire city's repaired, but until then, we brought a lot of people in either Canada or any other states that hasn't been attacked yet. Your family's in Canada… Toronto. After you get out of here we'll bring you there."

"Thanks maim."

She nodded and walked out of the room, taking a short glance at the Point Man as well.

I went back trying to sleep again… no point in staying up. Ms. Kwon would **kill** me if I tried to do that again.

* * *

_**Two days passed…**_

Soon we got out of the headquarters and were sent to Canada thanks to the SWAT team, using their specially built airplane. Boy, was I excited to see my family again… well… maybe having all those hugs and "WECLOME BACK" I would hear, along with Katie… if she was there. And maybe Richard too, if he ended up in the same place I have.

When I arrived, my family was waiting for me there, and yes that even included my relatives as well. My face was filled with kisses and I was almost becoming a pancake after the amount of hugs they gave me. The Point Man was there too, simply smiling at the family doing all that to their one son… or nephew, or brother.

But after they were done I introduced them to the Point Man, who we decided to call Dash Parker Senior since he didn't really have a name… and called me Dash Parker Junior too. Afterwards we had a special family dinner in a way to welcome me. And afterwards it was all good… me and my family moved to an apartment, and we had to live there for about three months before the city was repaired.

Richard was also thankfully here too. He reunited with his mother there too, and I never realized that he and his mother were separated for quite a long time. His mother lived in Canada… but she wanted Richard to live with his aunt and uncle when he was young, because she was troubled by her husband's death and… well… she told him that she didn't know what she was doing at the time… or should I say that she was so depressed that her mind wasn't working properly and she flipped out, but not to the huge extent where she would ditch her own son. I tried to question him more when I met him, but he ended his story by saying that it was complicated.

As for the Point Man, he had no choice but to stay with me and my family… at least until we go back to the States. He and Ms. Kwon actually started dating, to my very surprise. Sometimes the Point Man said he'd be going out… it seemed all too suspicious. But I found him calling her once, and he told me that this would be between us two… I had to agree on that because I knew the Point Man would kick my ass if I said the otherwise.

* * *

However… we also had a trial… 

I was considered witness, along with Richard. The defendants were ATC employees Iain Hives, Marshall Disler, Norton Mapes, and Phil Viccio. They were charged with charges of testing dangerous experiments on a minor, who would be Alma. They were also charged for conspiracy, hiding this project for decades. They were also charged with development and production of dangerous materials and clone soldiers, which caused damage to many around the city. And, one charge for Norton Mapes himself, which I never thought he'd be charged with, was charges for molesting a former Armacham employee.

The trial took almost… fifteen hours. The jury studied the evidence extremely carefully, and the final decisions weren't quite as unexpecting as I thought.

They were found guilty for testing dangerous experiments on Alma and for conspiracy, but not for developing the Replicas. The company was charged with over forty million dollars, including five grands from Norton Mapes for molesting a woman, which was also announced guilty.

ATC was temporarily suspended… They had to promise the government never to run such tests ever again. He did however allow the production of weapons, but cloned soldiers. But ATC did so more or less, but they added their own specially coded AI to fuction and be controlled on their own, so they were capable of doing anything without in need of a psychic commander. Proving this, the government later announced that a certain number of cloned soldiers were permitted. But having more than how much the ones in power had instructed would result in a permanent ban for ATC.

But the strange thing was… where was the ATC president, Genevieve Aristide? She never testified at court… was she trying to avoid the case for her or ATC's own good?

That was still a mystery… the police were investigating and began searching for that woman.

But more or less, things went back to normal… I guess.

* * *

_**Three months after…**_

We were back home… at last. And I was glad that nothing more horrible happened.

I was still officially in the F.E.A.R. team, along with Richard, whose mother also moved in to the states to live there. But at the same time we continued on with college, which was a tough thing for us to do.

But I was glad… that… many things were back to normal. Maybe for now, but I hoped things like this would never happen again.

* * *

**THE END**

_**Well, that's the main story for Haunted Memories guys. Again, thanks for the one full year of reading and reviewing my story. I enjoyed writing Haunted Memories so much… a lot more than writing She Who Returned to be honest. And I want to thank the following reviewers as well for reading my story.**_

**Tanya Adams 64**

**Spearofhope**

**Stealth Fart**

**Jordan R. Was Here**

_**And everyone else who reviewed.**_

_**Once again, that's one whole year of writing one story. It was sheer joy writing this story. I hope many of you enjoyed reading this story... But stay tuned for the sequel and the side chapters. It's not over yet…**_

**Haunted Memories… END**


	34. Side Story part 1

_**Alright guys, this is the side story. It will be about 4-6 chapters long, or maybe shorter (and doubtfully longer)**_

_**However, if you wish to understand what's going on in the following side story, I highly advise you to play Perseus Mandate, or go to Wikipedia and read the plot if you haven't played it yet. The side story will assume as if you played it or know the plot already.**_

_**The beginning is the part in the game before the Auburn explosion… enjoy.

* * *

**_

**Side Story Part 1**

The sarge quickly took out the mini gun he picked up earlier, fighting his way to get that bastard, Gavin Morrison. The team's been chasing him for quite a long time, and if he didn't catch that son of a bitch any time soon, he swore to good he'll quit the team.

And with these ATC security forces in the way, this was no walk in the park.

Two ATC members walked in his way, holding their SMGs at him.

"Get the fuck out of my way, bitch!" The sarge shouted as he ran towards them, and clubbed one of them with his mini gun on the head, knocking him out cold.

"Die you motherfucker!!" The ATC security he shoved past shouted as he fired back at him, but the sergeant took his time to quickly take out a grenade and threw it at him, and the ATC member became nothing but a shower of blood.

But that only drew more attention from the ATC troops, aiming their weapons at the F.E.A.R. team member.

"Drop your weapon!!"

The response to that was quite obvious; he fired his mini gun and tore them apart in pieces within seconds, except one.

"And you were saying?" The sarge mocked, who aimed the dangerous weapon at the ATC security, and quickly fired what took the life out of the scared ATC security.

Realizing that his mini gun ran out of ammo, he dropped it and armed his assault rifle instead. He rushed to his goal… Gavin Morrison.

He was standing there, but when he took a better look at his situation, Lieutenant Chen and Captain Raynes were already there, aiming their weapons at him.

"You have the right to remain silent!" Raynes angrily said to Morrison, who was raising his hands in the air.

"You definitely aren't gonna get away with this…!" Morrison grunted, but he was staring more at the guns than the team members instead, for obvious reasons.

"Yeah? Well you put us into enough shit already so why don't you just shut you mouth?" Chen smirked, and rifle butted him in his stomach, but that only angered the captain, but he took Chen's actions seriously.

"Chen, cool it! He may have been a trouble maker, but we were never given the right to hurt unarmed civilians!"

"Sorry sir."

The sergeant approached them, panting for air.

"You look like you switched bodies with a dog!" Chen teased.

"Yeah… a worn out dog." The sergeant added.

But they knew things never would've went well for this long. They heard a loud explosion a few miles ahead. The team and Morrison turned around, and watched a large explosion destroying a few buildings nearby. They knew that the heat of the explosion would do just the same to the buildings ahead, so they quickly had to find somewhere to hide. But before they knew it, Gavin Morrison opened a pair of doors nearby and locked himself in, and they saw a few flight of stairs from the doors. He must've been trying to go under ground.

"After him!!" Raynes commanded Chen, who ran up to the door and tried to open it. But it didn't even budge. The sarge fired at the door bars, and the doors still weren't opening.

"Fuck, that bastard got away!!" Chen cursed, who was just too angry to even look at the explosion like Raynes and the sarge were.

"Quick, there's a window nearby!!" The sergeant shouted, and pointed at a window nearby. Raynes charged and jumped towards it, and Chen and the sergeant jumped in as well, along with Chen.

"Damn… mission failed…" The sergeant grieved.

"Not quite, sarge. He went underground… he won't live there for too long!" Chen commented.

"Those Nightcrawlers might find him, so it's not gonna be an easy search, but it won't impossible either." Raynes replied, but he also watched the explosion now coming their way.

"Ohh boy… here comes nothing…" Chen sighed, and the explosion vaporized the building as the F.E.A.R. team number 2 took cover. They were ready to accept their fate…

* * *

The sergeant slowly opened his eyes, and looked around his surroundings. He was in a white room, and was on a bed… and a television set hanging on the wall, along with a small table on his bed. He was also wearing a gown…

_Fuck… I wonder how long it's been since the explosion._

He heard footsteps coming closer, and a nurse came in to the room, surprised to see the sergeant awake.

"Glad you're awake sir!" She said as with a smile as she moved the curtains out of the window's way to let the sunlight into the room.

"How… how long was I out?" The sergeant asked he shielded his eyes against the sunlight.

"For at least three days sir. The doctor told me to let you go by tomorrow… but for until then, we'd appreciate you to rest."

Three days… that was great… JUST great. Morrison would've gotten away easily by now, and heaven knows what he would've been doing with the DNA sample he was talking about.

But he couldn't much at this state and pretty much did what the nurse asked him to do; to rest. He felt like he was able to move, but doctors knew better… and one can never be too careful when he or she is a patient.

"By the way… what about the other two people… Chen and Raynes…" He asked… he couldn't really say their first name or their rank, as the F.E.A.R. team was a government secret.

"Lieutenant Chen will come out on the same day as you are. Captain Raynes, however, will have to stay a few days longer." The nurse replied… wait a minute.

"H… how… how'd you know of their rank…" The sergeant wondered.

"It was on the headlines. The F.E.A.R. team was announced of stopping the chaos in ATC Headquarters… and you three were found later."

Oh great. A secret government organization now known to the public… this just couldn't get worse. But on the other hand, they were labelled as heroes. Still, they sort of did disobey orders from the government himself, and obviously disobeying a rule from the government would lead anyone to severe consequences.

"Would you like a glass of water, sir?" The nurse asked as she wrote something on her clipboard… probably writing the status of her patient.

"Sure."

The nurse poured him a cup of water, and right before giving it to him she blurted, "I forgot to mention… you got guests coming over at 2 PM."

Guests? Who'd visit him? It couldn't possibly be Betters… or the entire F.E.A.R. team.

Or maybe his family.

He remembered back in the times at the farm, when he was young. Always remembered how he, his brothers and his father talked all night. His mom would come and bring them hot chocolate… saying it was to give them company. But they knew it was just an excuse to stay with them.

Until one day, when he was twelve, his parents "disappeared".

The police came to the farm one day, telling him and his brothers they had bad news, saying their parents died after a train somehow fell off the rail and fell to the sea. From then on, they moved to the city, where life got more complicated for them.

He wondered where his brothers were now, and what they were up to.

The sergeant was just glad now that he was 31, and finally got a job in F.E.A.R. as the sergeant. When he first joined, it was just Kwon, Jankowski, and Raynes. Chen joined two days afterwards, and a week later came the Point Man. But before he even joined the team, he remembered going to the hospital for an eye surgery… for faster reflexes they called it. He would lower his eyes and things around him would slow down immediately. According to Betters, the results of his reflexes and the Point Man's were identical, meaning that they would have the same ability to easily slow things that were on their surroundings down.

The nurse left him as he drank a sip from his water. Then he placed it on the little cabinet nearby, and went back to sleep after a deep sigh. He was surely going to have a long, long briefing after he came back to the HQ. They failed their mission… yet they were so close to getting that bastard. How could they fail when they were just a tiny little step away from accomplishing a tough mission like that?

He went through all the trouble fighting the ATC security, Replica Soldiers, and those Nightcrawler Mercenaries, and this was the result of all the effort.

If Betters were to come and visit him, he was ready for some… punishment. The one thing he never wanted considering how tough it was for him to get this job, and it would ruin his reputation as a sergeant.

Knowing full well things weren't going to go well, he decided to drift off to sleep.

* * *

_2:00 PM…_

There was a knock the door… and the sarge woke up.

"It's Mr. Betters, sir… he wants to see you for a bit." The doctor opened the door for Rowdy Betters to get in the room. He brought up a nearby chair and sat down.

"How's your head, sarge?" Betters asked… which surprised the sergeant, considering how he was wondering what the commissioner had to yell at him for.

"I'm fine… but that Morrison got away…" The sergeant sighed.

"Don't worry about it. That explosion was caused by the Point Man… wish I could've told him to wait so you guys can catch him, but I lost radio contact with him. But more or less, we have to carry on."

The sergeant was at least glad that nobody blamed him… or at least not Betters.

"We managed to find the Point Man, but he hasn't woken up ever since." The commissioner added.

"Well, more importantly, how are we going to arrest Morrison?" The sergeant wondered, laying his head back to his bed as a bit of pain struck him.

"Not a problem there… the data they were looking after was Paxton Fettel's DNA. They're missing Alma Wade's DNA… the current location of Alma's DNA is in the ATC Delta Complex, but in order to get there you must go through their Alpha Complex. The last SFOD team that we sent in to retrieve it while you guys were gone told me through the radio. They were on their way to the Delta Complex, but I lost contact with them. Now we're forced to send in the F.E.A.R. team… but since Jankowski is MIA and the Point Man is WIA, and you guys are the only hopes left. I heard from the doctors that you and Chen will be out early, so I need you two to go after the DNA sample once you guys recover." Betters explained.

Whatever he said was long enough for anyone else to repeat, but to the sergeant he understood every single part of it. He had to know the situation was… every word of what Betters said to him at least gave him a little hope in getting Morrison busted.

"I'm going to tell Chen now… oh and Jin and Holiday wants to see you." Holiday waved off and left the sergeant on the bed… and watched Jin Sun Kwon and Holiday come in.

"Damn man… at least glad you and the Point Man made it." Holiday sighed, but from his looks it was more from tiredness instead of sadness or grief. Then again… there was nothing to grieve about… at least for him.

"I just checked the Point Man's condition… I don't know how long it's gonna be until he wakes up. So until then, you're our only person to get us out of this mess…" Jin blurted, and the sergeant nodded.

The three chatted for a bit, and at 3:00 PM all of them left the sergeant. And soon he looked outside the window… he wondered how long it would be before all chaos erupts. Because whatever that would have to do with this Alma they heard of was more than just dangerous; she could easily kill anybody easily just by staring at them. But now the team was racing for Alma's DNA. And that would mean a war of F.E.A.R. and the Nightcrawlers.

But until then, all he needed was sleep.

* * *

The sergeant got up the next morning, and got the call that he and Chen were now ready to go, where as Captain Raynes had to stay for a few more days.

They were back at the F.E.A.R. briefing room that day…

"Alright, here's how things will go for us. Like I told you Alma's DNA is in Delta Complex of an ATC facility. But remember, ATC is armed with heavy amount of security. So here's how things will go. The sergeant will lead the Zulu squad, along with Chen. Passalaqua will lead echo team, and the rest are in the Delta squad. Zulu squad, you try and move in to the Delta Complex and retrieve Alma's DNA before Morrison does. Echo squad, I need you to disable the ATC security devices to allow the Zulu squad to proceed. And Delta squad will clear the enemies of the area. I need an immediate feed on what's going on down there, so gather as much information as you can."

Everyone in the room nodded and aborded their choppers, getting ready for the battle ahead. It was either victory or suicide, but it was more or less a battle they had to fight through.

**To be continued…**

_**The side story will be really short; only four chapters. Maybe five, doubtfully six or more. But at least four. I'll try to get this side story done before new years. R&R!**_


	35. Side Story FINALE

_**Heeey guys… I know, I'm finally getting my lazy ass off to finally update the side story. Apologies for not updating for a looong time, but hey, life outside of internet comes first, ya know?**_

_**I had mid term exams to finish, and I had to get a new router because mine broke all of a sudden. So I couldn't update that easily when I really wanted to.**_

_**And not just that, but I went through a SHIT load of hardships during the time I couldn't update, to the point where I just forgot if I even had a account! Retarded of me yes, but at that time I just didn't see the point in updating that much. That, and it was my birthday and I got Call of Duty 4 and Crysis for the PC, and I've been playing the hell out of those games for a while. But because of that, this will actually be the final side story chapter I'll write. I want to get this story done and over with ASAP, since I have to continue writing my other story.**_

_**One final note, I just re-read my story and I noticed a LOOOOT of grammar errors. I'm gonna have to edit this story and post a remake or something someday, but other than that I appreciate all the support you guys gave me so far.**_

_**And thus, here is the final side chapter of Haunted Memories. R&R, homeys! **_

**Side story FINAL**

The sergeant gave some thoughts about how he got into this mess. Somehow, he felt that girl… the one with the red dress, was about to tell him something, or do something to him. _What_ she attempting to do was the mystery though… but then again, what the fuck can a girl like her do to him anyway?

But she _did_ have some sort of unusual presence that she gave him. She looked like Sadako from The Ring, or maybe he was just imagining things. Her hair did cover her face, after all, so he could relate to that. But again, he may have just been imagining things. Of course a young girl like that wouldn't appear out of the blue…

And little did he notice a rocket missile coming towards the chopper's direction.

"May day May day! Echo Squad's chopper is shot down! Prepare for impact!" The pilot shouted over the radio, and the next thing sergeant imagined was his death.

Maybe his thought of that girl just caused this.

Or maybe, again, he was just imagining.

* * *

Darkness. He escaped from it with pain flowing through his entire body. He knew the pain would go on much further.

"Wake up, you fatso!"

Chen was surprisingly still alive. He tried to get the sergeant back on his feet.

"Speak for yourself, Chen. What's our status?" Sergeant asked as he got up, but was still limping a little bit.

"We only have three guys left with us." Chen replied, as he pointed at the three surviving SFOD members.

"Damn… its definitely those mercenary soldiers. It definitely can't be a Replica soldier since they're deactivated at this moment." The sergeant reassured Chen and the team.

"Actually… word has it that they're back to life." Chen reluctantly told the sergeant the truth.

"You gotta be fucking kidding me…" was all the sergeant could mutter out and the survivors moved towards the complex.

They heard static from their radio… Chen received the call and picked up.

"C…zzzz…CH….CHEN! Can you hear me?" Betters spoke from the radio.

"Yeah, we're still in one piece." Chen replied.

"Glad to hear it. You worried my ass off when I heard your chopper got shot down!" Betters blurted, yet with relief.

"Well yeah, its either a Replica or one of those fucking mercenary bastards." Chen replied angrily.

"Should be a Replica…. Right now they're being controlled by Alma Wade, the girl that's been a test subject to ATC for years. Without the point man to back us up right now, this could be trouble." Betters replied.

_Alma Wade… does he mean… that…_ The sergeant thought as he overheard the radio conversation.

"Well some little brat can't be that big of a trouble. I've seen her too while we were infiltrating the ATC complex." Chen explained what they went through too.

"I see. Well hurry and find their DNAs. They should be at the Delta Complex. I could lose your signal when you get in there, so stay sharp people. Betters out."

* * *

Blowing a fuse towards the nearby door, the team went in and took a look around the Alpha Complex. It seemed like a busy laboratory… busy with blood that was. They just seemed to be everywhere. But this never surprised the F.E.A.R. team since they've seen a shit load of these rooms in one day while at the ATC complex. They've seen rooms with blood that could fill up a swimming pool before.

"I'll take point…" Chen whispered in case there were any nearby enemy activities.

He quietly opened the door while having his assault rifle pointed out towards the door.

"Room clear… move out." Chen ordered quietly and pointed the direction to them, and they quietly moved in to the room, looking for any enemy activity that could be hiding to ambush them with a surprise attack.

Chen went by and opened the next door, and looked around for any enemy activity again.

"Stairs clear." Chen whispered and walked forwards as did the team.

But the door on the other side opened up.

"Movement…" Sergeant whispered and they all hid to get a surprise attack on the guy who opened the door… but much to their surprise, they didn't hear walking. They heard puffing.

It was a SFOD soldier that crawled his way in.

The sergeant walked towards the injured SFOD soldier and asked him, "What happened, soldier? Are you alright?"

He looked up and replied, "Urgh… I'm from Delta Team… there's still some of my men that are alive, but if we don't move on they could be wiped out."

"Well hide and rest here then… we'll go look for them." The sergeant ordered and the soldier nodded.

* * *

Not too far ahead, there were mercenary movement again…

"Weapons free." Chen ordered and everyone on the team fired their weapons at will.

This downed two mercenaries, but there were still eight of them alive. The sergeant took cover behind a nearby crate and fired back with his assault rifle, downing another mercenary. Chen in the meantime managed to get a headshot on another mercenary, which downed another one. Five of them remained.

The SFOD soldiers had trouble with them. They moved from cover to cover to get a good position on their shots, but one was shot on the leg and had to crawl his way to cover, and unfortunately he wasn't fast enough to take cover and was killed when another mercenary threw a knife at his shoulder.

Two other SFOD soldiers then took cover and opened fire on the mercenaries. Downing one of them, another mercenary tossed a grenade and blew their cover. The blast killed one of them and severely damaged the other one.

"I'm hit!" He shouted.

The soldier tossed his rifle aside and aimed his side arm at another mercenary, shooting him in the head, but at the cost the soldier pressed his trigger as he was shot, and that unintentionally killed the SFOD soldier.

"Guess it's just us now, sarge. Let's kick these motherfuckers' ass!" Chen bellowed as he fired his assault rifle back at the mercenaries and so did the sergeant. Since there were only a few left, the sarge began his slow-mo and fired his gun while his bullet time took effect. The remaining mercenaries died in just a flash.

"Alright, awesome work, matrix guy."

Chen always called the sergeant that every time he went through bullet time. He usually ignored the comment, like he did for most of Chen's wisecracking jokes.

"Yeah, whatever you say, wise guy." Was the sergeant's typical answer.

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

Nightcrawler Elite Commander watched through the security camera, knowing full well that the F.E.A.R. team were interfering with the operation that he and the senator set up.

"Alright, we got intruders on basement 2nd floor. Blue team, go assassinate them… while I'll lead the red team and obtain the DNA." He ordered.

His soldiers nodded in agreement and exited the room to fulfill their missions.

"Remember, even though we have Fettel's DNA, without Alma's that means nothing. If the F.E.A.R. team gets it before we do, then not only has your mission failed, but the senator has told me to assassinate every one of you… if you were to be a bunch of useless rats. You got that?"

The commander may have had a whole platoon of mercenaries to lead, but that never meant that he could never kill them, even if he outnumbered them. He has survived a room with about three squads of Replicas before without getting hurt at all, so most of the Nightcrawlers feared their commander.

* * *

Chen and the sergeant continued their investigation of the Alpha Complex, looking for their way towards the Delta Complex.

"Sarge… do you hear that?" Chen asked.

"…Yeah."

They heard something. Footsteps… that's what it was. But who's they could not distinguish.

"What the fuck?"

Chen bellowed as he was dragged towards a corner by an unseen force. He fired his gun towards the direction he was being pulled to, but it seemed to have an effect of hitting a lion with a newspaper.

The sergeant dashed towards the lieutenant to give him a hand. But before he knew it, Chen crawled back in one piece.

"That was bad as bad a fucking amarillo!" He gasped as the sergeant helped him back on his feet. But not before long did they find themselves attacked by a group of unknown creatures… they had red eyes and that was all that could be seen of them. They charged at the two F.E.A.R. team members at full speeds as they opened fire on them.

The strange creatures eventually latched on to the helpess Chen and began slashing at him. As one was about to stab him in the throat, the sergeant fired at him and the creature disappeared, and the others disappeared along with him thanks to the rapid fire and the recoil.

"You just have to save my ass everytime, don't ya sarge." He growled as he got up.

"If that's your way of showing gratitude, then I'm gonna ignore you the next time you scream."

And with that Chen shut his trap.

* * *

The two reached an elevator… and rode their way towards the Delta Complex, but it wasn't too big of a surprise. They merely followed traces of blood on their way, since the mercenaries would kill their way through this god damn laboratory they were in.

"All right… Alma's DNA must be here. Stay sharp, Chen." Sergeant cautiously ordered, and Chen nodded in acknowledgement. The sergeant then armed his shotgun and moved towards the automatic door. The two soldiers then investigated the room they were in; scientific equipment were left broken, and spilled chemicals or maybe blood samples being tested were there. And blood was even on the walls, with hand prints as well.

They then got a view on the lower floor's view. They stood by the rails and there were about six mercenaries that stood there. Chen was just about to toss a grenade when the sergeant stopped him, whispering "Don't even _think_ about it."

They decided to fall back for now, but that wasn't until they heard someone shouting, "what the hell is that?"

They went back to see what was going on. One of the mercenaries were stuck on the wall, and seemed to be struggling. He looked as if something or someone was strangling him, but eventually he exploded into a shower of blood. But that wasn't over. Another one of them began to hover in mid air and his arm got ripped off somehow, and blood poured out of his arm. He was later lifted onto a windshield on a vent, and gore came out.

"What the fuck is going on?" The remaining mercenaries cried as they tried to exit the room, but were suddenly locked shut all of a sudden. One of the dead mercenary's knife hovered in air and stabbed the mercenary's throat.

The three mercenary then tried to blow a hole out to get out, as they set up a bomb. It exploded, making a hole for them to get through. But one of them was suddenly decapitated with a flash, where there was nothing that seemed to have got in contact with him.

The remaining two ran to the hole and got out, but one of them was dragged back in and were taken to a corner, where there were red, oil barrels. It remained no one seemed to shoot it, and he soon died.

The sergeant and Chen ran back to the previous room, watching the horrors the mercenaries have witnessed.

But little did they notice that surviving mercenary ran into the same room the F.E.A.R. team were in. He was about to aim his weapon towards them when the sergeant took out his side arm quickly and shot it out of his hand. He then charged towards the mercenary and began to beating him up until he began to bleed from his mouth.

"Now tell us, where the fuck is Morrison? If you value your life, tell us!"

Much to his surprise, however, as he punched once more, the helmet fell off, revealing Gavin Morrison himself.

"Alright you asshole, you know how much shit you put us through! Who the fuck are these mercenaries and what do they intend to do?"

Morrison replied, "t…they… they turned on me, damn it! If you really wanna know who they are, they're called the Nightcrawler Mercenaries. They intend to take Alma's DNA…"

"Yeah, why the hell should I believe they're betraying you when YOU'RE the fucking chairman?" Chen questioned with ridiculous laughter.

"It's true! I'm in this Nightcrawler uniform and armour to conceal my identity… they tried to kill me earlier, since by killing me, they wouldn't have to be following _my_ orders. They think my orders are too damn ridiculous and pointless, and I'm no longer needed. In fact, I am NOT the senator…! The senator's name is…"

When he least suspected it, he was shot in the chest, and the perpetrator was not seen.

"Well, I guess Morrison wasn't really the man we should've been going after all this long… if what he's saying is true." Chen sighed.

"He _did_ tell the truth, Chen. He was just shot, and he said they turned on him." The sergeant explained.

"Chen, we have to find the senator… we have to find the guy who's probably leading the Nightcrawlers' operation… yet on the other hand, we need to find the SFOD survivors too and help them out." The sergeant ordered.

"Alright, I'll go look for any survivors. We'll split up." Chen agreed and the two ran off to different directions.

* * *

The sergeant cautiously walked towards the room where the Nightcrawlers were killed… by an unknown force. He could meet the same fate, so he had to be careful.

Fortunately for him, the room was clear. He kicked open a door and found a Nightcrawler member typing on the computer. The sergeant quietly walked towards him to put him out of commission, but before he knew it, the mercenary disappeared from his sight. The sergeant looked everywhere for him, until he found him attacked to a wall and kicked off, kicking the sergeant in the chest, sending him flying towards a bookshelf and broke it.

"Oh, so Betters sends his own men to come after me, doesn't he?" He laughed as he stood on top of another book shelf.

The sergeant got back up and looked at the Nightcrawler.

"What's it to you, anyway?" The sergeant questioned angrily.

"Let's just say me and Betters have a story… but that don't matter anymore. You should know that those Nightcrawler members you fought earlier were mere pawns of me… useless, fucking pawns to be used."

"And you must be working under the orders of this senator, aren't you?"

"The senator is expendable… like Morrison was. Once we obtain Alma's DNA, we're gonna get rid of the senator and take control of the Replica soldiers and annihilate ATC."

"So you're the one who killed Morrison… and you have the same goals as that savage Paxton Fettel, don't you? Dealing with ATC was _our_ duty to begin with, you know."

"Hah! Just to interrogate that bitch Aristide? I guess after bringing Alma's DNA back to our HQ, I guess that could be our new mission. Without a chairman, ATC is pretty much fucked anyway."

"Like that's ever gonna happen!"

The sergeant took out his survival knife that he had and charged towards the Nightcrawler Elite Commander. Surprisingly he had a knife himself too. The sergeant narrowly evaded being slashed to the face, and tried to stab the mercenary's hand. However, the Nightcrawler Elite Commander managed to grab the sergeant's hand and tried to twist him around. But the sergeant managed to suplex the Commander by spinning around, but thanks to the helmet the Commander merely got hurt a little bit rather than having his head cracked open.

The two charged at each other again, and they both had their knives pushing each other high up in the air as the F.E.A.R. sergeant and the Nightcrawler Elite Commander were chest to chest, trying to push their knives to their heads.

He kneed the sergeant's stomach and kicked his chest while he was down. He then jumped to try to stab the sergeant's chest, but he barely dodged the blow and picked up his knife that he dropped as the powerful mercenary hit him.

The sergeant swung his knife at the Nightcrawler Elite Commander, and it made a scratch on his chest. But it didn't go deep enough to cut through his heart. He then kicked a barrel nearby and distracted the sergeant, but he immediately turned on his slow mo and saw him about to slash him. But the sergeant ducked and the Nightcrawler Elite Commander landed on the floor on his feet.

"Hmph, so the F.E.A.R. team gave you that operation too, did they?"

He surprisingly had the slow mo ability as well, but the sergeant kept his on and the two saw each other moving at slow motions. The Nightcrawler Elite Commander threw his knife at the sergeant and that was when he immediately took his side arm to shoot it down. He quickly aimed towards the Nightcrawler Elite Commander, who ran around the walls without even falling off. The sergeant unfortunately missed since he managed to jump towards cover in time and get his knife that the sergeant shot down.

Their slow mo's wore off and they were beginning to get exhausted.

The F.E.A.R. sergeant charged towards the Nightcrawler Elite Commander, who countered by slashing his face and making a scar there.

"Heh, this is nothing… Why don't you give up, then?" The sergeant laughed as he wiped the blood off his face.

"When hell freezes, you motherfucker." The Nightcrawler readied his knife again and charged towards the sergeant again. He jumped sideways and he made a large impact on the wall. The sergeant gave a swift kick on the face and his helmet fell off.

"Hmph, you're not as weak as I thought… but you're nothing but a mere piece of shit to me!" He bellowed.

He charged at the sergeant and gave him a punch on the face, as the sergeant dropped his knife. The Nightcrawler Elite Commander jumped and landed near the sergeant, and was about to slit his throat. The sergeant held him off and with all his strength, pushed him off and the knife dropped right near him. But the commander gave him another punch on the face while the sergeant managed to knee him on the chest.

The sergeant, at the right moment, took out his side arm and shot the grounded Nightcrawler Elite Commander's shoulder, injuring him. But it didn't kill him yet either. He got back to his feet, clutching his shoulder.

"Using guns now are we, coward?" He insulted.

"A coward would never do this, would he?"

The sergeant once again charged at the Nightcrawler Elite Commander, who began his bullet time effect. Noticing this, the sergeant did the same thing and found the Nightcrawler Elite Commander with his side arm as well. The two shot simultaneously, and his sergeant in the shoulder while the commander at his upper arm, making them both drop their weapons.

The sergeant quickly found a knife nearby and quickly charged at the Nightcrawler Elite Commander, who was against the wall trying to get back up. He stabbed him square in the chest. The mercenary moaned at the last second and fell to the floor, dead.

* * *

The sergeant picked up Alma's DNA and as soon as he did, with such great timing, Chen came into the room.

"Sarge! Glad to see you in one piece… but we better hurry the fuck up man, because we called in reinforcements to bomb this place down!" Chen informed.

"I got Alma's DNA, where are the survivors?" The sergeant asked.

"There were only two remaining… but they evacuated and called for backup. Now lets get the fuck out of this hellhole!"

The sergeant nodded, but he turned for a split second, and saw the same girl with the red dress again.

There were security settings going on, and the two found themselves trapped in a room as automatic doors shut down.

"Don't worry, we can use these." Chen calmly replied and put a fuse to the door, blowing it up.

"Go go go!" He shouted.

_These must've been turned on after taking Alma's DNA… which is probably running some of the operations in this lab._ The sergeant thought.

The two then ran for the elevator, but with the security settings in effect, they were also disabled.

"Shit!"

Their only option were the stairs, and they climbed up when they saw Nightcrawler soldiers coming their way as well. They tried to shoot them down when the sergeant set up some turrets nearby. This gave them an evasion and the Nightcrawlers ran for cover, and the F.E.A.R. team soon heard a grenade blowing off. But that no longer mattered; them escaping to safety only mattered.

Then about six more Nightcrawlers got in their way, forcing the team to actually fight.

The sergeant and Chen took cover and fired back. The sergeant immediately jumped out of cover and tossed a grenade at the Nightcrawlers, and the blow took out three of them. Three of them remaining, they shot back with their VAS rifles and managed to shoot Chen down on the shin, making him unable to move. The sergeant then gave one a swift jump kick and slashed at his chest with his knife. He then fired back at the remaining two, killing them.

"Shit… just after getting out of the hospital…!" Chen grunted.

The sergeant helped Chen get back up by putting his arm around his shoulder and rushed towards the exit. The two SFODs waited for them outside…

"What took your asses so long to get here?" He asked, as the chopper came by.

"Chen's wounded. Help me get him to the chopper and we'll get the hell out of here." The sergeant explained the situation and the four soldiers got on the Black Hawk, and another came by and he saw them working on blowing the place up along with Nightcrawlers in it. The two choppers soon escaped and went back home.

_It's over… for now._ The sergeant thought in exhaustion as he watched the lab exploding. The choppers then went off to the horizon, where the sun began to set. They went back home…

_Somewhere distances away… _

Nightcrawler HQ

A Nightcrawler Elite, carrying a sample of Fettel's DNA, walked into the senator's office, who was smoking his cigar and asked the mercenary, "Losses?"

The soldier couldn't but reply with, "Acceptable."

The senator didn't see it, but he then saw the Nightcrawler pointing a pistol at his head.

"Say good night."

**Side Story END **

**Present day… after Haunted Memories.**

The new Nightcrawler Elite Commander infiltrated to the ATC HQ, and moved to ATC's mother computer. He solved the code in the AIs that were installed within the obedient Replica soldiers.

"Operation Code 501, complete… something wicked will happen soon. Nothing will go wrong for us now... Not even F.E.A.R. can stop us now."

* * *

**HAUNTED MEMORIES END**

_**Well, there you have it. The suspenseful ending of Haunted Memories. It really isn't a happy ending quite yet… but you know what guys, I want to get my other story done with. Afterwards I'm going to write the sequel to this story. But for now, I'd like to thank all the support you guys gave me. Until then, see you later homeys! R&R!**_


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